Stubborn Shadow
by Mrs.InsaneOne
Summary: When Naruto returned to Konoha after spending just over two years on the road training under Jiraiya, he never expected to pick up a living shadow with a mind of his own. No Pairings. De-aged!Harry, MOD!Harry, Strong!Harry, Intuitive!Naruto, Strong!Naruto, & Protective!Naruto
1. Homecoming Rescue

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _Mentions of character death, angst and drama, mild to moderate violence, mature content (foul language & mentions of alcohol), and AU._ _Child!Harry, Powerful!Harry, Intelligent!Harry, NOTstupid!Naruto, Powerful!Naruto, and Protective!Naruto. _

**IMPORTANT AN:** _Please note that this story is going to be written from a single point of view; Naruto's PoV. This means that as a reader you will only know what Naruto knows, will only see and hear what Naruto sees and hears, and will only ever read Naruto's thoughts, feelings, and observations. It also means that there will be no short flashes to show what is happening off screen. Not going to happen so please don't ask what so-and-so is doing or how some-one-or-other is reacting because I'm not going to deviate from the plot here. If you find it annoying to be left in the dark alongside the main character; this is probably not the story for you. _

_You should also keep in mind that this story represents an Alternate Universe; meaning that I will be playing fast and loose with the Naruto Canon when the mood suits me – something that is far more entertaining for me to write than robotically following the script of the manga or the anime. HP Canon may be mangled when I feel the need to twist it to suit the plot but as this story is firmly planted within the Naruto-verse you aren't likely to see very much, if any, of the butchering I did the HP Canon._

**AN2:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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**Prologue: Homecoming Rescue**

_July 31, 1986, Late Afternoon/Early Evening  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

The afternoon sun was just touching the horizon when fifteen year old Uzumaki Naruto stumbled to a stop the moment the towering wall that surrounded Konohagakure no Sato came into view. It had been just over two and a half years since he'd last seen his home and he felt his heart swell with a hundred emotions even as the burning of unshed tears filled his eyes. It was good to be home. Taking a deep breath and blinking away the nostalgic tears that had filled his eyes, the orange and black clad teen dashed forward to catch up to the white haired man he'd been walking beside just moment earlier.

"Excited to be back?"

"Hai, Ero-Sennin. Dattebayo!"

"Well then; don't me hold you back, gaki. Go reacquaint yourself with Konoha; I'll report our return to Tsunade-hime."

"Arigatou," Naruto gushed as he gave the man beside him a huge grin before he took off running; never more thankful that Jiraiya had (for some unexplained reason) decided to cut his training short by a good two months than he was right at that moment as he impatiently signed the gate register before eagerly venturing further into the village.

Excitement filled the teen as he walked through the streets for the next four hours staring wide eyed at the village he'd grown up in; a village that didn't appear to have changed much during the many months he'd been gone. Even the people (civilians and shinobi alike) seemed pretty much the same; if you didn't count the fact that everyone was two years older. Using skills he'd mastered long ago, Naruto walked up the side of a light post to perch on top of it as he spun around in a circle to take in everything. Unable to contain himself any longer, Naruto laughed out loud as his dancing sapphire eyes fell upon the Hokage Monument as it was washed with the night's first beams of pale moonlight and he took in the five familiar faces that had been carved onto the cliff.

"Tadaima Konoha!" Naruto suddenly bellowed out as loud as he could when he could no longer contain his excitement; his loud voice startling more than a few of the evening pedestrians that were within a five mile radius of his perch.

He dropped down from his perch on the lamp post several minutes later and landed nimbly on the balls of his feet before he headed in the direction of Ichiraku's Ramen Stand; eager to devour his favorite ramen recipes as well as sample the latest combinations that his good friend Teuchi and his daughter Ayame had come up with while he'd been gone. He was just passing the mouth of a darkened alley not far from the ramen stand when a brief flash of gold and a cry of pain followed by the angry snarl of a dog caught his attention and he slowed to a stop so he could peer into the shadows that filled the small alley.

A second, sharper cry of agony accompanied by the scent of freshly spilled blood had Naruto instinctively calling forth three shadow clones as he fearlessly rushed into the shadows to investigate. In the deepest shadows near the back of the alley, Naruto found a huge stray dog looming over a small child half sprawled on the ground and half dangling from the dog's mouth. Naruto grimly pressed his lips together as he recalled all of the times that he'd been cornered by one of the village stray dogs after he'd been kicked out of the orphanage and before the Sandaime Hokage had set him up in an apartment.

Shoving away the less than pleasant memories, Naruto dashed forward, straddled the huge dog, and wrapped one arm around its neck in order to lock the angry beast in a chokehold. Two of his waiting clones jumped forward the moment he had it partially restrained and pried the jaws of the dog apart while the third clone rescued the dog's victim before the orange clad copy rushed the kid off towards the hospital. The dog took immediate offense to having its prey forcibly taken from it and Naruto's two remaining shadow clones were violently dispelled when the dog viciously bit them and raked its claws across their bodies.

Not wishing to leave such a vicious animal free to terrorize the streets of Konoha and not wishing to get mauled, Naruto clamped his legs around the dog so that it couldn't shake him off as he activated the kunai launcher he had on his right arm to release the kunai he kept there into his hand and deftly slit the dog's throat. He generally disliked killing but he was willing to make an exception in this case. Knowing that there was a fifty-fifty chance that the dog had been suffering from distemper, Naruto sealed the dead body and the kunai he'd used to kill it into a storage scroll before he headed towards the hospital in order to make certain his clone had gotten the child to a medic. He'd just reached the hospital when his clone was pushed out the door by an angry nurse and two irritated shinobi.

"Boss, we've got a bit of a problem," the clone declared as he turned away from the door with a soft growl.

Naruto clenched his jaw when his eyes zeroed in on the small form that his clone was still cradling protectively. It was immediately obvious to Naruto that the child had not been treated and he let out an angry snarl over the fact that the hospital staff had turned away a child in need. Just like they used to turn him away if the Hokage or another sympathetic shinobi wasn't around to make certain he was treated on the rare occasions he'd been seriously injured beyond what the Kyuubi's chakra could heal.

He was on the verge of storming into the hospital to give them a piece of his mind only to pause when he heard a soft, pain filled whimper issue forth from the child cradled in the arms of his clone. Closing his eyes, Naruto forced himself to calm down before he collected the child from his clone while passing it the scroll holding the dead stray. He then sent his clone off to hunt down Tsunade in order to inform her about what had happened while he carried the child to his home.

When he finally reached the run down old apartment building where he lived, Naruto climbed up the side of the wall to the small balcony outside of his bedroom (to avoid the rickety old stairs and save time) before slipping in through the sliding glass door. Once inside the apartment, he immediately headed straight for the bathroom with his burden so that he could tend the child's injuries. As he stepped inside the small room, he used his elbow to flip on the light switch so he could see what he was doing and jumped when the small body in his arms cried out and buried its face against his chest.

"Sorry, kid," Naruto apologized contritely as he realized the sudden brightness had probably hurt the kid's eyes. "I guess I should have warned you to hide your eyes before I turned the light on, ne?"

When he didn't receive a response, Naruto shrugged it off as the kid just being frightened by everything that had happened. Stepping over to the sink, Naruto shifted the kid around, set the kid on the counter, and chuckled to himself as the kid clung to him momentarily before reluctantly letting go. The fifteen year old then got his first good look at the child he'd rescued.

The first thing he noticed were the oversized clothes that the kid was wearing; a dirty, torn, and singed red shirt that hung down to the kid's knees, an overlarge pair of tattered blue jeans that was held up by a blood caked leather belt, and the strangest looking black, red, and gold kimono (which the kid was practically swimming in) that Naruto had ever seen (made from what looked like some kind of leather) that was equally tattered, covered in blood and grime, and looked burnt in more than a few places. It almost looked like the kid had been caught in a war zone due to the tattered and singed appearance of the dirt and blood covered clothing.

The kid's hair appeared to be dark beneath the blood and dirt that coated it and far messier than Naruto's own locks; standing up in every which direction and tangled in knots. In contrast, the kid's skin (what little Naruto could see of it) was pale beneath the dirt, blood, and vivid bruises that stood out starkly against his pale skin. The kid was also painfully thin beneath the clothes he or she wore and Naruto knew the kid didn't weigh very much. The child's face was thin and angular with an aquiline nose, thin lips, pointed chin, high cheekbones, full eyebrows, and a wide forehead marred by a scar shaped like a lightning bolt. He couldn't see what color the kid's eyes were at the moment because the kid had them tightly scrunched up against the light.

The child's age and gender were rather difficult to tell but if Naruto had to guess, he would say the child was a boy based upon the shape of the kid's face and somewhere around the age of four due to his size. Overall, Naruto thought the kid looked rather exotic and tragic; his features far different than anything Naruto had seen before and the ragged too large clothes, fresh and drying blood, and the dirt implying that the child had been suffering long before the stray dog had gotten to him. Brief inspection complete, Naruto created a couple of shadow clones to air out the apartment, change the sheets on his bed, and clean up the kitchen; a small part of him having noticed the thick layer of dust covering practically everything as he'd traveled through the small apartment.

Turning his attention to the kid's injuries, Naruto noted that the kid's left pant leg was torn from the dog's teeth and soaked with the kid's blood from where the dog's teeth had torn through the skin. Digging a clean kunai out of his utility pouch, Naruto used the throwing knife to cut away the ruined pant leg so he could assess the injury and winced as he took in the still blossoming bruises, puncture wounds, and deep gashes along the boy's shin and calf as well as the scrapes on his knee. He also noted that what he could see of the boy's right ankle peeking out from the kid's pants was covered with older scars that indicated this wasn't the first time that the kid had been attacked by a dog (or other animal).

Frowning at the severity of the wound, Naruto reached over to turn on the sink (to let the water warm up and to clear the basin of dust) before he dug into his utility pouch and pulled out the first aide kit that Jiraiya had insisted he start carrying back when he first left the village to train under the old pervert. Shifting the kid further back on the counter so that he wouldn't fall, Naruto tested the water; adjusting the amount of cold water until the water was tolerably hot. He then turned back to face the kid and found himself trapped in a pair of tormented leaf-green eyes that turned ageless the moment their eyes connected.

Naruto felt his breath catch as those eyes pierced straight through him as the child weighed and measured his soul with an intensity that was beyond anything he'd ever felt. A small part of Naruto's mind couldn't help but note how out of place those eyes seemed in the face of a child; they were the eyes of a veteran shinobi that had lived through a lifetime of suffering and war. Deep within the blond teen, another being shifted and stirred briefly before stilling.

The spell that held Naruto frozen in place ended roughly two minutes later (though it felt far longer to Naruto) when the child broke eye contact first as he reached out with one hand to lightly trail his small fingers along the whisker marks on Naruto's left cheek. Naruto felt a strange tingle slide across his face and sink beneath his skin in the wake of the light touch before his entire body was suffused with a comforting warmth that reached straight to his soul. The gentle heat faded into a distant memory a short while later when the child's hand slipped from his face as his eyes slid shut with a grimace of pain.

Shaking off the feeling that something important had just happened, Naruto gently took hold of the boy's injured left leg and placed it in the sink. The child let out a soft whimper as Naruto began carefully rinsing off the blood and dirt that had caked the leg and the blond shinobi winced in sympathy and murmured a soft apology. Next he grabbed the bar of soap and lathered up his hands so he could wash away the rest of the dirt and germs while he attempted to distract the child from the pain by drawing the child into a conversation.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, dattebayo," Naruto introduced himself as he flashed the kid one of his trademark grins (though the child never saw it because his eyes were still closed). "Can you tell me your name?" After a few minutes, when no response was forthcoming, Naruto babbled out, "Hnn; a shy one are you? Did a passing cat steal your tongue? Or was it my awesomeness that stole your voice away?"

Glancing up from where he'd been washing the boy's leg, Naruto found the child leaning against the mirrored medicine cabinet above the sink with his eyes tightly closed and his little hands fisted in the hem of the red shirt he wore. Sighing, Naruto figured the boy was just in too much pain to respond to his attempt at humor at the moment and tried a different track.

"What was a little tyke like you doing out this late all alone anyway? Did you get separated from your parents and end up lost? Did that dog chase you into the alley? Do your parents even know where you are? I bet they're awfully worried about you right now. You know that you don't have to worry about me getting you in trouble for being out late all by yourself; if that's what you're worried about, ne? I used to sneak out to play pranks on people all the time when I was little and I know better than to snitch on someone else, dattebayo! If you tell me where you mumphf…"

A small hand covered his mouth before he could finish speaking, catching Naruto by surprise and he glanced up to find the kid staring at him in complete confusion and more than a little uncertainty. He arched an eyebrow at the kid as he leaned back to break the contact so he could ask, "What's the…?"

He'd barely started the question when the kid once again covered his mouth; his little brow furrowing as he frowned at Naruto. This time when he pulled away in order to free his mouth, the kid's hand followed him and Naruto narrowed his eyes slightly before he smirked behind the hand and opened his mouth so he could lick the hand. Naruto then cried out in shock and disgust as the kid smeared his own spit all over his face in retaliation. He automatically reached up to wipe his face dry only to end up with a face full of soap and water and he cried out a second time as he got soap in his mouth.

"That was a rotten trick you little gaki!" Naruto whined in irritation as he bent closer to the sink to rinse off his face and wash his mouth out.

When he straightened up and caught sight of the kid again, Naruto found him leaning as far away from Naruto as he could while pressing both of his hands to his mouth and staring at Naruto with wide frightened eyes. Sighing, Naruto wiped his face dry against the sleeve of his black and orange tracksuit before he refocused on rinsing the soap off the boy's injured leg. He then turned off the water and grabbed a towel to dry the leg off before opening up his first aide kit and digging out the bottle of astringent and a tube of antibiotic cream so he could disinfect and treat the wounds.

"I'm not angry," Naruto offered after another quick glance at the kid revealed that he was still frightened. "I promise I'm not going to hurt you for pranking me. I'm just not used to getting caught in someone else's prank since I'm the one usually doing the pranking, dattebayo."

He glanced up again to find the boy staring at him without any comprehension and with more than a little despair (his hands still firmly clamped over his mouth). Returning his eyes to the kid's leg, he began gently daubing an antibiotic cream onto each of the gashes. The moment he'd coated the final bite mark, he wiped his fingers on the towel he'd used to dry the boy's leg before opening a roll of gauze so he could wrap up the wound to prevent the cream from getting wiped off. While he was doing that, he tried to figure out the puzzle that was the child he'd rescued. He finished up a few minutes later and tossed the left over gauze back into the first aide kit before he pursed his lips and studied the child once more.

"Are you hurt anywhere else?" When that question remained unanswered just like the rest of his questions, Naruto sighed again as he muttered, "Only one way to find out I guess."

"Unless you tell me where you are hurt, I'm going to have to have you undress for me so I can make certain you aren't hurt anywhere else. Come to think of it, I probably should have had you take a bath before I bandaged your leg but I was worried about the amount of blood you were loosing. I suppose we'll just have to use a washcloth to clean you up as best as we can for now. I'll have to wash that rat's nest that is supposed to be your hair the old fashioned way though; there's no way I can leave that the way it is now."

He reached out and grabbed hold of the sleeve of the kid's oversized leather kimono and gave it a gentle tug in order to get the kid to release his mouth long enough to pull it off his arm. It took him a few minutes to convey what he wanted to the boy and Naruto was beginning to get the impression that the kid didn't understand a word he was saying. It would certainly explain why the kid hadn't answered any of his questions and why he'd grown frightened; Naruto couldn't imagine what it would be like to find himself injured and alone and not able to understand a word his rescuer said. It made him wonder who the kid was and how he had ended up alone on the streets.

Naruto's introspection ground to a halt when he pulled off the kid's shirt and caught sight of the scars decorating the kid's arms, chest, and back. There was large oval on his right arm just a few inches above the elbow, an obvious stab wound in the crook of the boy's right elbow, and there was a rather nasty looking scar on the back of his left shoulder that looked like someone had clubbed him with a mace. Lastly, there were two or three dozen pencil thin scars scattered across the boy's arms and chest; as if he'd been caught in a storm of flying shuriken.

There was also a half healed gash that wrapped around the boy's chest and back through the bruises that littered the child's body; Naruto suspected that the injury would leave a nasty scar once it had finished healing. The wound started at the left armpit, cut across the chest below the nipple, wrapped around his side to slice across his back below the shoulders, continued around to the front once more where it traveled across his stomach before curving around to his back again where it ran diagonally across his back until it disappeared beneath the boy's pants near his left hip. It was an inch wide from end to end (from what he could see of it), the edges were blackened (as if the injury had been caused by a flaming whip), and it was obviously infected as the skin on either side was more than a little discolored and swollen.

"That's going to be a problem," Naruto deadpanned as he stared at the poorly healing wound for a long minute before he reached out probe the wound; immediately noting the heat radiating from the horrible gash before he even touched it.

To his surprise, the boy tracked his hand with his eyes and then flinched as he caught sight of the wound; as if the kid hadn't even known it was there until that moment. Before his fingers could come into contact with the fevered flesh, the kid's hands reached up to wrap around his wrist and Naruto glanced up to find the kid shaking his head at him. He supposed the infected gash must hurt and he bit his lip as he considered how he was going to convince the kid to let him clean the wound. In the mean time, he gently tugged his hand free and turned so that he could fill up the sink with warm water.

Grabbing a washcloth, Naruto dipped it into the sink before lathering it up with soap. He then glanced at the boy watching him warily and contemplated his best course of action. After a moment, he decided it would be best to start with the boy's arms in order to give him time to relax a bit. It didn't quite work as the kid tensed up the moment the cloth came into contact with his skin but he at least didn't squirm away as Naruto carefully washed his left arm before he washed off the scrapes on his left hand before moving onto the right. As he washed the back of the right hand, Naruto paused as yet another scar was unveiled; a single line of letters on the back of the hand that spelled out something he couldn't read.

The kid squirmed uncomfortably and Naruto put the odd scar out of his mind for now as he finished washing the kid's right hand and arm. He washed the boy's neck and face next; which drew a soft whine of protest from the kid and Naruto couldn't help but chuckle. Once he started on the kid's back, he made sure to avoid washing too close to the infected gash before he worked his way around to the boy's chest and stomach. He then rinsed the wash cloth and began rinsing off the soap.

Once he was finished, he emptied the dirty water from the sink and turned on the faucet so he could rinse the boy a second time to make certain he got all the soap off. He would fill up the sink a third time before he lifted the boy up so that he was standing on the sink so he could remove his pants. The kid actually squeaked out a protest and turned bright red as he tried to hold his pants up after Naruto removed the belt.

"Relax, kid, I'm pretty certain that you ain't got nothing that I haven't seen before and I need to finish cleaning you up because you are filthy," Naruto instructed as he gently removed the boy's hands and tugged his pants down.

Part of the reason the kid had been embarrassed was because he hadn't been wearing any underwear. The rest was most likely because the infected gash that circled his chest and back continued around his left hip and over the front of his left thigh before it jumped across to his right thigh and wrapped around the right leg twice before ending at the base of his calf. It took all of Naruto's willpower to not continue staring at the terrible wound as he passed the kid a hand towel he could use to preserve his modesty when he noted how uncomfortable the boy was. He then soaped up the washcloth once more and began washing the kid's right leg, paying close attention to the scrapes on his knee and once again doing his best to avoid getting too close to the poorly healed wound before he moved onto the kid's left thigh.

Naruto then pressed the soapy washcloth into the boy's hand that wasn't holding the towel over his privates and after trying to verbally explain to the boy that he needed to wash himself, he gestured between the washcloth and the boy's crotch. The kid went bright red a second time when he finally realized what Naruto wanted him to do and Naruto couldn't help but snicker as he lifted up the dirty towel he'd used to dry the dog bite on the boy's left leg to form a privacy screen of sorts. The kid huffed and whined before he sighed and washed himself. He would whine again when he was required to rinse the soap from his privates twice (to make certain he got all the soap off).

Fifteen minutes later, the kid was wrapped up in one of his larger towels, a dry washcloth pressed over his face, and leaning half in the shower as Naruto washed his hair. It took three shampooings to get all of the dirt and blood out of the kid's hair and then Naruto conditioned it twice in order to loosen up the numerous tangles. Once he finished rinsing the last of the conditioner out, Naruto wrapped the kid's hair in a towel, grabbed his comb, and carried the boy into his bedroom. He then dug out some of his older clothes for the kid to wear and helped him to get dressed.

Naruto took a seat on the bed at that point and set the kid on the floor at his feet before he used the towel on the kid's head to dry his hair as best he could. He then combed out the black-as-sin rat's nest that paraded as the kid's hair. By the time he carefully untangled the final knot, the boy's hair had dried and the kid had fallen asleep against his legs. Not knowing what else to do with the kid, he picked him up off the floor and tucked him into his bed before he returned to the bathroom in order to clean up the messes he'd made washing and treating the boy.

He'd barely finished cleaning the dirt and soap scum from the shower stall when someone started pounding on his front door. Tossing the rag he'd used to clean the shower into the still dirty sink, he headed to the front of the apartment and unlocked the door to find the Godaime Hokage and Jiraiya standing outside his door.

"Where's the gaki your clone said you found?"

"In my bed; he fell asleep just a short while ago after I finished washing him and treating the dog bite, baachan," Naruto replied as he held his door open so the two adults could step into his apartment. "The problem is that the kid wouldn't let me do anything for the infected gash he has that wraps several times around his body from armpit to knee."

"Naruto, the medics said you tried to bring them a puppet dressed up to look like a dead body as a tasteless prank; how could a lifeless puppet stop you?"

"The medic was an idiot; neither puppets nor the dead bleed, breathe, or develop fevers," Naruto growled as he scowled at the Hokage.

"A person can't survive without a chakra network, Naruto; they said the body you brought them lacked the spark of life."

"Come see for yourself, baachan," Naruto insisted as he grabbed Tsunade's hand and dragged her to his bedroom where they found the child in question caught up in a nightmare as he struggled beneath the covers.

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**Translations:** Japanese to English

Baachan – grandmother or old woman  
Dattebayo – Naruto's catch phrase; has no true meaning but has been translated as 'Believe it' in the English version of the Anime  
Ero-Sennin – Pervy Sage  
Gaki – brat  
Hai – yes  
Hi no Kuni – Fire Country  
Konohagakure no Sato (Konoha) – Hidden Leaf Village  
Tadaima – I'm home or here I am

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**AN:** _I originally wasn't going to start posting this until **after** I finished Banished Destiny but my muses have all decided to go on strike all at once and I've not been able to write much of anything for the WIP stories I have up right now. I'll be posting a couple of other stories as well in order to clear out my queue of prepped chapters and in hopes that I can finally finish up Banished Destiny and Wizard's World YR2. I'll be posting at least one chapter per day but no promises on which story it will be on as I've got about seven different stories that are at least 2/3 completed and have 20+ chapters ready for posting._

_Anyway_,_ the next chapter for this story will be up in a couple of days. ~ Jenn_


	2. Healing

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _Mentions of character death, angst and drama, mild to moderate violence, mature content (foul language & mentions of alcohol), and AU._ _Child!Harry, Powerful!Harry, Intelligent!Harry, NOTstupid!Naruto, Powerful!Naruto, and Protective!Naruto. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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**Chapter 1: Healing**

_July 31, 1986, All Night  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Naruto dropped Tsunade's hand and hurried forward the moment he realized that the kid was caught up in a nightmare; intending to wake the kid up. The first thing he did when he reached his bed was to pull the covers off the boy before he reached out to shake his shoulder. He could feel the heat the child was radiating through the shirt he'd loaned to the kid and he bit his lip as he glanced over his shoulder and stated, "He's burning up, he wasn't this hot when I tucked him into bed no more than twenty minutes ago."

"Chikushou," Tsunade breathed as she rushed the child's side; coating her hands in green healing chakra so she could scan his thrashing body for the cause of the fever and bring his body temperature down.

She'd barely dropped down onto the bed when the kid opened his eyes and let loose a piercing scream as he stared at the green chakra coating her hands. Naruto scrambled after the kid as he bolted for the nearest exit; which happened to be the open window that one of Naruto's clones had opened to air out his bedroom. He barely managed to reach him as the kid literally threw himself headfirst out the window. The kid let out a single keening sob and fought against Naruto's hold for half a minute before he stopped fighting and instead wrapped his arms around the teen and attempted to merge with Naruto's stomach.

"Bring him over here so I can check him," Tsunade ordered as Jiraiya moved to sit in the window to prevent the kid from making a second run for it.

Naruto complied, keeping the kid in his arms as he sat down on the bed. Tsunade immediately reached forward with her hands once more coated in healing chakra and the moment the kid caught sight of the green glow he freaked out a second time; elbowing Naruto in the nose hard enough to give the teen a bloody nose as he tried to squirm his way free.

"Itai, itai!" Naruto yelped as he struggled to keep hold of the kid with one hand and grabbed his nose with the other.

"Calm down, gaki!" Tsunade barked as she frowned at the still struggling kid. "Did you hear me, boy? Sit still!"

"He doesn't understand you, baachan," Naruto interjected before Tsunade lost her temper. "I don't think he understands Japanese. He was completely confused earlier when I tried asking him a bunch of questions. He's also not said a single word to me in return."

Tsunade frowned at the child as she digested that information before she shook her head and muttered, "He doesn't understand us at all…? How strange but not important right now; I need you to hold him still so I can scan him. Here, let go of your nose so I can heal that for you so you can use both hands to hold him."

The moment Tsunade reached her glowing green hands towards Naruto's face; the kid went from terrified to angry as he let out a soft snarl and thrust his right hand forward. Just seconds later, a shimmering gold shield formed around both Naruto and the kid, deflecting Tsunade's hand and pushing her back several feet. All three shinobi stared at the shield in shock; the two older shinobi shocked over the fact that they couldn't sense any chakra coming from the shield (nor had they felt any when it formed) and the teen because the kid had protected Naruto (even if it wasn't necessary) but not himself.

"You didn't have to do that," Naruto murmured gently as he reached out and grabbed hold of the kid's wrist and slowly lowered his arm; the shield collapsing the moment the child turned to give Naruto a questioning glance. "Tsunade-baachan would never hurt me. She was just going to fix my nose."

As he spoke the last sentence, Naruto reached up to point to his now barely bleeding nose (the Kyuubi's influence already working to heal the damage). The kid then shocked all three shinobi a second time when he let out a soft whine as he reached up and touched Naruto's nose with his right hand. A soft golden glow formed around Naruto's nose beneath the kid's hand and the teen once again felt a gentle wave of warmth sweep across his face washing away the last traces of pain he felt. When both light and warmth faded, the kid pulled his hand away to reveal Naruto's newly healed nose. The kid then curled into Naruto's arms and closed his eyes.

"Okay; am I the only one who'd like to know what the hell just happened?" Jiraiya inquired as he stared at the kid snuggled in the teen's arms.

Neither Tsunade nor Naruto answered the man; both of them still somewhat dazed. Tsunade shook herself free of her shock a moment later as she slowly crossed the distance separating her from the bed. This time, she simply reached out and placed her hand on the child's forehead without drawing upon the healing chakra and the kid opened his eyes as he twisted around to meet her gaze. Naruto watched the Godaime Hokage freeze the instant she locked gazes with the child and he wondered if Tsunade was feeling the same thing that he'd felt that first time he'd looked into the child's ageless green eyes.

After a couple of minutes, the kid frowned up at her as he reached up with his right hand and touched the diamond on her forehead where she gathered the chakra necessary to perform the Souzou Saisei and other chakra intensive techniques. Naruto watched as the purple diamond shattered and faded away the moment the boy touched it followed immediately by Tsunade's body reverting to its natural form of a prematurely aged fifty-four year old woman. Tsunade herself appeared as if she'd been frozen as the golden light from earlier poured forth from the child's hand to wrap around her body; encasing her completely.

Jiraiya and Naruto both gaped in disbelief as her body slowly began de-aging; her skin gradually regaining a healthy glow and her wrinkles shifting and smoothing themselves out. They could tell that she wasn't just reapplying the advanced genjutsu technique that she used to hide her age because they could not sense her chakra flaring despite the fact that her body was physically regressing back to what it should have been had she not developed and used the Souzou Saisei.

Several minutes later, when the glow faded and the boy's hand dropped; Tsunade staggered backwards and brought her hands up to stare at them as if she'd never seen them before. She no longer looked like she was in her twenties but she also didn't look anything like a haggard old woman in her seventies either; though her new mature appearance in no way detracted from her beauty. Naruto collected himself a moment later when the boy in his arms went limp as he passed out; his fever raging hotter than ever.

"Tsunade-hime, are you alright?" Jiraiya asked urgently as he moved away from the window in order to check on her.

"Baachan; his fever is worse than it was just a few minutes ago," Naruto exclaimed at the same time.

"I'm fine, Jiraiya; in fact, I feel as if I just regained twenty or thirty years of my life," Tsunade replied as she stepped forward to help Naruto lay the boy down on the bed before she stripped him out of his borrowed shirt and pants so she could take a look at the injury that Naruto had mentioned earlier. The moment she laid eyes on the infected wound she sucked in a sharp breath and hissed out, "Kuso; it looks like someone wrapped him up in a burning whip or tied him up with a rope that was then set on fire. Naruto, go grab several towels and put on a pot of water to boil; I'm going to have to leech the infection out of the wound before I can deal with the actual damage. Jiraiya, please fetch Shizune; tell her it's an emergency and to bring her full kit."

"Hai," Naruto murmured as he immediately complied; sending two clones to get the water going while he headed to the bathroom to gather up all of the clean towels he had.

When Naruto returned to the room ten minutes later carrying a large stack of towels with his clones following behind carting the steaming pot of boiling water, Shizune was drawing blood samples from the child while her pet pig, Tonton, rooted around the foot of the bed. He directed his clones to set the water on top of the small dresser beside his bed as he set the towels on the edge of the bed and stepped back against the wall to watch while he waited to see if there was anything else Tsunade needed from him.

He nearly gagged as the stench of decay filled the room when Tsunade reopened the boy's wound just seconds later; releasing a veritable flood of greenish yellow puss. Shizune secured the two vials of blood she'd drawn before she jumped to help wipe away the puss while Tsunade continued to peel away the scab using a sharp scalpel. Unable to take the vile smell or watch the process any longer, Naruto left several shadow clones to run errands for the two medics and promptly retreated to the kitchen.

He spent less than five minutes just sitting at the table before the inactivity began to get to him. Needing something to occupy himself, he started another pot of water and filled up the tea kettle so he could make a pot of tea. He had just pulled down four tea cups when he realized he hadn't gone grocery shopping yet because he'd been wandering about the town before he'd stumbled across the boy being attacked. He created another two shadow clones and sent one to buy half a dozen bowls of ramen (he'd been looking forward to eating Ichiraku's ramen for far to long to wait even one more day to taste that noodle-y goodness) and the other to buy enough groceries to last for a couple of days.

While he was waiting for his clones to return from their errands, Naruto pulled the pot of boiling water from the stove and carried it to his bedroom to swap it out with the older pot his clones had made earlier. While he was at it, he gathered up the soiled towels so he could wash them before the puss and blood on them dried while sending yet another pair of clones to dump the filthy water from the first pot down the toilet. He then ordered the two of them to scrub the pot and refill it with more water to boil while the original Naruto tended to the laundry; making certain to bleach the towels in order to kill any germs.

The next time he entered his room, to deliver the freshly washed towels (not bothering to dry them since there was no point); it was to find that Tsunade had finished cutting away the scab and the burnt edges from the sides of the gash and was currently drawing the rest of the puss out of the wound by using the heat from the still hot water he'd delivered (the Sannin dipping a towel into the not quite searing water before wringing out as much as the water as she could before folding the towel and setting it over the wound). Once the towel cooled, she'd peel it off to reveal a strip of puss encrusted goop clinging to the wet cloth and drop it on the ground before replacing it with a fresh towel.

Naruto gagged several times as he dropped the basket of clean towels at the foot of the bed and delegated another clone to tend to the next load of laundry as he retreated to the kitchen once more. This time he didn't have time to worry about boredom and nerves striking him as both of the clones he'd sent out into the night returned with everything he'd sent them to buy. Glad for the distraction, Naruto dispelled the two unneeded clones and set about putting everything away and finishing up the tea he'd started earlier.

He then scarfed down five of the six bowls of ramen in record time; savoring each bite despite how quickly he was eating his food. The final bowl was placed in a storage seal in order to preserve it; in the event that the boy he'd found woke up hungry after Tsunade was finished healing him. Feeling much better, Naruto gathered up the tea he'd made and headed back to his room. He was extremely pleased to note that Tsunade and Shizune had finished drawing the puss out of the boy's wound and the two of them were in the process of disinfecting the wound in preparation for stitching the gash closed to minimize the scarring.

Naruto ordered his clones to continue cleaning up the messes before he handed each woman a cup of tea the moment they finished their current task; the two of them having looked positively parched after their intense efforts to clean out the nasty wound. Both of the kunoichi thanked him when they handed the empty cups back to him before promptly returning to their task while he reclaimed his earlier perch against the wall so he could keep an eye on the boy. Jiraiya returned just a few minutes later carrying a box of medical supplies that he'd requisitioned from the hospital which he passed to Shizune before he disappeared back out the window.

An hour and forty-five minutes later, the boy was once more tucked comfortably beneath a clean set of sheets swathed in bandages from armpit to ankle. Hanging from a couple of senbon stuck into the wall above the bed was a large bag of saline solution and two smaller bags; one holding antibiotics and the other containing a child friendly pain reliever. All three plastic bags were attached to drip lines that were connected to the intravenous needle lodged in the child's left arm; each one set to dispense their contents at varying rates.

In the special medical cooler sitting on Naruto's dresser there were six more bags of saline, nine more of antibiotics, and five holding more of the pain reliever. Beside the cooler was a storage scroll holding antibiotic cream, extra bandages, extra suture needles and sterilized thread (in case his stitches broke open at any point), and several extra IV needles and IV lines just in case they were needed.

"Do you think he'll be alright?" Naruto asked as he followed the three adults towards the front door.

"Only time will tell; make certain you keep an eye on him tonight," Shizune replied tiredly. "I'll be back later to check on him."

"First thing in the morning, I will track down a reliable medic to help you keep an eye on the gaki while his injuries are healing until he has healed enough for us to move him," Tsunade added as she frowned in the direction of the bedroom before she glanced at Naruto and studied him intently. She then addressed the teen using her Hokage-voice, "Under no circumstances are you to speak of the abilities that the child demonstrated this evening. You are not to reveal those abilities to anyone; not even your friends. Do you understand?"

"Hai. Ano… nande?"

"We don't know a single thing about the gaki and for all we know he could be a potential threat; even if he isn't, there are those in the village that would perceive him as such simply due to the fact that he should, for all intents and purposes, be dead. And because if word gets back to the wrong people, the kid's life is going to be in danger and right now he is exceptionally vulnerable. It is probably best if you avoid even mentioning the child to anyone; the longer we can keep his presence a secret, the more time we'll have to get him healthy, determine whether or not he's here to cause trouble, and figure out a way to better protect him in the event he is as harmless as he seems."

"What about the medics that threw my clone out of the hospital?"

"They've already been dealt with," Jiraiya ominously revealed. "I also layered a number of defensive barriers and privacy wards all around your apartment complex while I was out earlier. Since you're the only one who lives here, it was rather easy for me to set them up around the building without anyone seeing me. You and the runt will both be safe here and you won't have to worry about anyone seeing the boy or overhearing any of your conversations. The only people that will be able to enter the property and ultimately your apartment are those that you, Tsunade-hime, or I personally invite."

They were gone a minute later and Naruto took a few minutes to clean up the last of the messes around his apartment before he returned to his room. He took his time getting ready for bed, his eyes frequently straying to the diminutive form stretched out in his bed; his mind constantly replaying the memory of the child curling into his arms with little to no hesitation and the memory of the child protecting him from what he perceived as a threat.

Once he was ready for bed, Naruto dithered for a moment trying to decide if it was better for him to sleep on the floor beside the bed or sleep in the bed beside the kid. In the end, he made a trio of shadow clones (two to guard the potential exits in the room to prevent the kid from sneaking out and one to let Shizune in when she returned), set up a makeshift bed on the floor beside the bed, and settled himself down on the floor. He was out like a light just seconds later.

Naruto was woken up several hours later by an irritated Shizune and his attention was quickly drawn to a warm weight on his chest and pressed up against his left side. Confused, Naruto lifted his head and glanced down to find a messy head of black hair pillowed on his chest. He blinked at the sleeping kid nestled against his side several times before he groggily asked, "How did you get there…?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Shizune practically hissed. "Why did you take out his IV and move him out of the bed?"

"I didn't; just ask my clones. He was still sleeping on the bed when I fell asleep down here on the floor."

"The kid woke up about half an hour after the boss fell asleep and he stared at us for several minutes before he pulled out the needle in his arm and crawled down to join boss on the floor. We would have tried to stop him but he'd had the IV out before we knew what he was doing and we didn't know how to put it back in so we let him be and continued to stand watch over him to make certain he didn't sneak out of the room."

"I suppose it can't be helped this time," Shizune finally stated as she shook her head. "Help me get him back up on the bed so I can put the IV back in."

Naruto nodded and gathered the kid up in his arms as he carefully sat up; doing his best not to put any pressure on the kid's wounds so that he wouldn't pull any of the stitches out. He climbed up onto his feet just seconds later and attempted to set the kid back on the bed only to feel a pair of arms snake around his neck and latch onto him. Glancing down, Naruto found himself caught up in a pair of troubled green eyes once again; only this time instead of weighing his soul they were pleading with him.

As he stared into those expressive orbs, Naruto found himself remembering how cold and lonely he'd been growing up all alone and he felt a lump form in his throat as the kid broke eye contact and snuggled closer to him. Sighing, Naruto sat down on the bed and settled back against the wall before he shifted the kid down onto the bed; the kid reluctantly letting go of his neck so he could curl up half on Naruto's lap.

"Naruto…"

"He's frightened, Shizune-chan," Naruto explained as he reached out to comb his fingers through the kid's hair (ignoring the way the kid flinched and cringed the first couple of times). "He was attacked by a vicious dog that was five times bigger than him last night, injured by some shinobi or thug not long before that, been surrounded by perfect strangers ever since, and unless he's a really good actor, he doesn't understand a word of what we're saying."

"And he's clinging to you because you are the one who saved him," Shizune concluded with a sigh of her own. "I guess it should be fine so long as you are careful not to put any pressure on his injuries."

The dark haired kunoichi quickly set about retrieving a sterile needle from the supplies so she could replace the IV. She ran into a bit of a snag when it came to actually inserting the new needle into the boy's arm; the kid shying away from all attempts to pry him away from Naruto's side. It would take fifteen minutes to get the kid to hold still long enough for the needle to be inserted into his vein and that was only because Naruto had wrapped the kid in a hug, gently uncoiled his arm, and held it out for Shizune. At the same time he encouraged the kid to bury his face against his stomach and lightly held the kid's head in place as he leaned down to murmured soft words of encouragement to the boy while Shizune deftly inserted the needle and taped it into place.

Naruto then helped Shizune check each of the child's bandages for traces of blood to make certain that none of the stitches had been torn out during the kid's short misadventure. Shizune left not long after that; admonishing Naruto to watch over the kid. The fifteen year old waved her off as he asked one of his clones to make some fresh tea and to heat up and bring him the last bowl of ramen along with the brand new box of almond cookies that one of his clones had purchased earlier.

The bewhiskered blond would spend the next hour feeding the kid about a third of the ramen. He then spent another half an hour coaxing the boy into eating two of the cookies; the boy having grown wary the moment Naruto had offered him the first cookie. He thankfully had no issues getting the gaki to drink the tea his clone had made. The kid had then curled up half draped over Naruto's lap before he drifted off to sleep once more; his hands tangled in the lightweight cotton pajamas pants that Naruto was wearing.

Naruto spent the rest of the early morning hours before dawn simply running his fingers through the kid's hair as he stared out his window.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Ano – um/uh  
Baachan – grandmother or old woman  
Chikushou – damn  
Gaki – brat  
Hai – yes  
Itai – ouch  
Kuso – swear word  
Nande – why  
Souzou Saisei – Creation Rebirth: Tsunade's self made technique (or possibly a family technique – not sure on that one) that allows her to speed up the healing process during a battle. It is a technique that is not without cost as each time she uses it, she is reducing her lifespan. Use of this technique will also cause her youthful appearance to fade away to reveal her true appearance.

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**AN: **_For those of you who don't follow my Author's Page, the reason I was not posting as promised was due to another hard drive failure; this time it was my main drive that crashed on me and not my document drive; so I didn't not lose anything but a chapter worth of edit's that I had made. During the time I was without internet (because the old XP drive I snagged from my husband's old PC had a conniption fit over my on board Ethernet, video card, & sound card), I at least was able to edit stuff and write a bit more; so I've got tons of chapters that are ready to be posted._

_I meant to start posting just as soon as I was back online but I had thousands of e-mails I needed to get through, bookmarks to recapture, and a dozen and one other things that just had to be done (like updating my Firefox dictionary so it would stop telling me I was spelling everything wrong; that was annoying). From this point forward, I will endeavor to post the minimum one chapter per day that I had previously promised as soon as I finish setting up all of my settings and whatnot that were lost when my drive crashed; that includes digging out all of my program discs so that I can reinstall the rest of my programs. As before, the story being updated will vary from day to day._

_Lastly, I want to thank everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, and followed this story and the other new ones I recently posted. And while I've not finished reading all of the reviews I've received because I just haven't had the time, I do appreciate each and every one. I will try to go back and respond or at least read them just as soon as I have time. ~ Jenn_


	3. Broken Memory

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _Mentions of character death, angst and drama, mild to moderate violence, mature content (foul language & mentions of alcohol), and AU._ _Child!Harry, Powerful!Harry, Intelligent!Harry, NOTstupid!Naruto, Powerful!Naruto, and Protective!Naruto. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 2: Broken Memory**

_August 08, 1986, All Morning  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Naruto yawned as he climbed into the shower and stepped beneath the downpour of hot water while he reflected on how his entire life had been turned upside down eight days earlier. During the time that he'd spent wandering with Jiraiya and training under the Gama Sennin's watchful eyes, he'd always imagined that he'd fall right back into his old life as if he'd never left. He'd retake his place on Team Seven, go on missions, and track down his missing teammate so he could beat some sense into him and drag him back home before eventually becoming Hokage. Never in a million years would he have guessed that he'd become the unlikely guardian of a lost waif upon returning to Konoha.

The most surprising thing, in Naruto's opinion at least, was the fact that he didn't mind. It hadn't been something he'd pictured or planned in the grand scheme of things but that didn't make it any less satisfying and rewarding. That didn't mean that taking care of the kid was easy; it wasn't. The kid had a well hidden stubborn streak that was a mile wide, was utterly terrified of healing chakra, had major issues dealing with new faces, was clingier than a leech devouring its next meal, and beyond devious when the mood struck him.

According to Tsunade, he was an annoying mystery whose sole purpose was to give her migraines.

The fifteen year old let out a chuckle as he poured a bit of shampoo into his hand and rubbed his hands together before washing his hair. Tsunade disliked riddles, puzzles, mysteries, and secrets with a passion and the kid was a complete mystery. Technically, the kid shouldn't even be alive because he had no chakra network (no tenketsu, no pathways, and most definitely no coils) and no evidence that he ever had one. Even Rock Lee, a Konoha shinobi that was a year and a half older than Naruto and well known for his inability to mold chakra normally, had a chakra network; it was just defective.

Then there was the fact that the kid couldn't understand the language; a universal language that is known throughout the entire world – though there are regional dialects that have cropped up over time that always have a few words the other regions don't. Jiraiya originally suggested the kid had mental issues. That theory was quickly and easily disproved due to the fact that the kid had little trouble understanding pantomimed orders and questions (providing they weren't overly complex or convoluted) and he had started to show signs of recognizing certain words (those that Naruto repeated most often).

Shizune had thought that maybe the kid had grown up in the wild with very little human contact (given the lack of understanding he had of the language and the lack of trust he shows to any strangers he comes into contact with). That too was proven to be a false lead as the kid had impeccable manners (if you ignored his perpetual silence and frequent incomprehension) and had no problems using a toilet, the shower, or the light switches (things that a true wild child would not be able to comprehend right away).

Another puzzle was the kid's exotic features; his facial structure was completely unlike anything that had ever been seen anywhere in the Elemental Countries. Even his eye color was unique; his deep green irises far more vibrant than even Sakura's green eyes. In fact, compared to the kid's eyes, Sakura's green eyes were washed out and dull (and her eyes were one of the things Naruto liked best about the pink-haired kunoichi). The kid's eyes were also far more expressive than one would expect; conveying an endless multitude of emotions no matter what the kid's current mood. They were also the eyes of a man decades older than a young boy; the eyes of a seasoned war veteran and hardened shinobi.

The kid's D.N.A. didn't help to clear up the mystery surrounding his origin because while there was no doubt that he was human; his genes held few of the more common markers that were typically found in the genes of those born within any of the Elemental Nations (according to Shizune). Furthermore, the kid's blood contained unrecognizable antibodies, other antibodies that were highly mutated, and completely lacked the antibodies for the more common illnesses that all infants and toddlers were inoculated against. Shizune was still testing the kid's blood to make certain that administering those vaccines wouldn't have a detrimental effect on the kid's immune system.

Additionally, the kid carried an abnormally high concentration of antivenin antibodies from an extremely potent and deadly snake venom; indicating that the kid had been bit by a venomous snake sometime in the past. Unfortunately, Shizune had not yet been able to find a match to determine what kind of snake had bitten the kid. He didn't appear to have any puncture scars that would match a snake bite either; Shizune had looked in order to attempt to get an idea on the size of the snake that had bitten him. Even stranger was the fact that during a few of the tests that Shizune ran with some of the rarer venoms, she discovered that the antivenin antibodies in the kid's blood would neutralize any snake venom that was introduced to the kid's blood samples.

Next on the list of oddities surrounding the child was his strange power. It was obviously not chakra; not only was it undetectable until it crossed into the visible spectrum, it was the wrong color. Normal chakra was a medium blue in color, healing chakra took on a green hue, demonic chakra (like that of the Kyuubi housed within Naruto's belly) was a dark reddish-orange, and the Hatake Clan was known for its white chakra (though Naruto had no idea what white chakra was used for). There were a few rare individuals that could manifest and manipulate yellow chakra outside their bodies (a known trait of Uzushiogakure shinobi – specifically the Uzumaki Clan – a village that no longer existed) as well as the dark and sinister purple chakra of those who wore Orochimaru's curse seal.

The kid's power on the other hand was gold; not an orange or bronze tinted yellow but an honest to goodness twenty-four carat gold in color and much denser than chakra.

The purpose and intent of the power also didn't seem to have any impact on the color of the power; though Naruto had no idea if he'd seen the full extent of what that power was capable of doing. So far, all he'd noted was that the kid could use his power to heal and create a solid shield of energy. It also appeared as if the kid wouldn't or maybe couldn't use the power to protect or heal himself; he had only used it on behalf of another so far. The way the kid manipulated his power reminded Naruto of the way Jiraiya performed the Rasengan; with sheer will power and a simple gesture alone. A rather impressive feat for such a young child.

The final mystery was how the kid had ended up in Konoha in the first place. He'd not been born in Konoha; Tsunade had checked the birth records for the past ten years and there had not been a single boy (or girl) born with black hair and vibrant green eyes. Shizune would be testing the kid's D.N.A. against all of the D.N.A. records currently on file in order to confirm that there were no matches (either partial or complete no matter how low the chances were) once she finished the other tests she was running on the kid's blood. It would take months before they could expect any conclusive results in that department though; simply due to the sheer number of D.N.A. files that would need to be checked.

Tsunade also had two of her most trusted AnBu operatives searching through the gate records of the past ten years for any entries indicating that the kid (or an adult with similar features) had passed through the gate. A search of the gate records from the past month had already turned up negative results and a check of all missing person reports filed in the last thirty-days hadn't turned up any matches either. An inquiry had been placed with Konoha's Barrier Team to find out if there'd been any recent concentrated spikes of chakra over the past two to three weeks on the off chance that he'd been slipped into the village by a transportation jutsu. Tsunade was supposed to receive that report later this morning.

Naruto sighed as he shoved away the mysterious puzzle that was his ward (guardianship officially granted as of four fifteen yesterday afternoon by order of the Hokage) and rinsed the suds from his hair. Tsunade would have preferred to stick the kid in the orphanage or assign guardianship to someone older and more experienced but the gaki stubbornly refused to let go of Naruto the two times Tsunade attempted to extract him from Naruto's home. The teen spent another two minutes scrubbing and rinsing the rest of his body before he shut the water off and opened the shower door.

It took him another five minutes to dry off and get dressed for the day. He then headed into the bedroom to check on the kid to see if he was awake yet. He gave a short wave to the medic that Tsunade had assigned to help him monitor the kid's health; a thirty year old man by the name of Okada Kitou. Naruto still wasn't exactly sure what the man looked like out of uniform since he wore the full body uniform of the Konoha Medic Corps that hid everything but the man's hands and small portion of the man's face from sight (including his hair). Still, he was a nice enough fellow and a highly talented medic; though he was a man of very few words.

The kid had given the man the weird soul searching stare treatment the first time he'd shown up but unlike he'd done with both Naruto and Tsunade, the kid had not reached out to touch the man's face. The kid also refused to let the man use any healing chakra on him (not that he let anyone else use healing chakra on him). He did, on the other hand, grudgingly allow Kitou to perform a physical inspection of his healing injuries twice a day; so long as Naruto was in the room. The kid refused to cooperate with anyone if Naruto was not in the room with him (preferably close enough to touch) and would descend into a complete panic if left completely alone in the room with anyone that was not Naruto.

The fifteen year old shinobi had taken to keeping at least one shadow clone in the room at all times in case he needed to step outside of the room. The kid somehow always knew when he'd left a clone with him though (even if he hadn't actually seen Naruto form the clone) and he would become extra clingy the moment the real Naruto would return any time Naruto left the apartment. Naruto rarely left him alone for more than an hour at a time and never for more than a total of four hours in a day because of that; slowly trying to impress upon the kid that just because he left didn't mean he wouldn't return. So far the lesson hadn't stuck.

Pushing thoughts of the kid's clinginess out of his mind for the moment, Naruto sat down beside the small body on the bed and critically studied his ward. Over the past week his injuries had actually improved rather quickly (though nowhere near as quickly as Naruto's own injuries healed) and the stitches were due to be taken out later that evening when Tsunade finished her duties for the day. Despite the improvements, Naruto knew that the kid would be left with a couple more rather ugly scars, though no where near as bad as they would have been if Naruto had not found the kid his first night back coupled with the efforts of Tsunade and Shizune to heal him.

Naruto still wished he could prevent the healing wounds from scarring scar at all and that there was some way to remove the rest of the horrible scars that littered the kid's body.

A steady, healthy diet had done wonders to improve the boy's condition as well; his complexion was no longer quite so pasty (if still rather pale), his skin was no longer so dry, and he'd gained almost two pounds. His face didn't look so gaunt thanks to the numerous liters of saline solution that had been pumped into his veins; countering the rather severe and prolonged dehydration the kid had been suffering from. Even those small changes made a huge difference as the kid no longer looked like death warmed over. That there were far fewer bruises marring the child's fair skin was another plus.

Further contemplation of the child's improving health was shelved as Naruto found a pair of vibrant green eyes watching him from beneath the messy mop of hair that stuck up all over the place. The blond couldn't resist smirking at the major case of bed head that the kid had woken up with (something that never failed to amuse the teen since the kid's hair was far worse than his own). Reaching out, Naruto ruffled the kid's hair and snickered when the kid pushed his hand away and gave him a scowl that was more than half pout for making his hair even worse. The boy narrowed his eyes slightly and ran his right index finger across the blanket covering him before he reached up and poked Naruto on the nose.

Naruto yelped as he felt a spark of static electricity leap from the kid's finger to his nose unexpectedly. He reached up to rub his stinging nose while the kid smirked at him. The first clue that the kid had done something other than just shock him on the nose came when Kitou began chuckling before the man smothered the sound and quickly cleared his face of all emotion (though Naruto could tell he was still laughing silently). Naruto felt a stab of worry when he saw the kid's eyes flick upwards towards his hair before letting out a soft, evil sounding giggle that sent chills running down Naruto's back. Hesitantly, the teen reached up to pat his hair only to jerk his hand back in shock when he felt another spark of electricity snap at his fingers.

"Oh you didn't," Naruto yelped as he bolted off of the bed and headed for the full length mirror that hung on the wall beside his bedroom door. The moment he got a look at his hair his jaw about hit the floor; every single strand of his hair was sticking straight up and bunched up in quarter inch thick, rod-like spikes. If that wasn't bad enough, he could see sparks of electricity rising and falling as they leapt from rod to rod. Reaching up to prod one of the rods, Naruto yelped as a spark jumped from his hair the moment his hand got close to his hair and he whined out a horrified, "Oh kamisama above; you did!"

When he turned back around to face the bed it was to find his ward grinning smugly at him as he smoothed his own messy locks into a semblance of order. Turning back towards the mirror, Naruto stared at his hair as he crushed the urge to cry a flood of crocodile tears at the sight of his hair masquerading as an electrical generating station. It was at that point that he noticed that the sparks dancing through his hair were gold in color instead of yellow and he immediately realized that the kid had used his mysterious power to initiate the prank. That soon led to the realization that the kid had changed the nature of his power and he wondered if that meant that the kid had an affinity for lightning, since he'd created an electrical current, or if it was just a fluke.

He then began to once again wonder just what else the kid could do.

"You are going to drive me as gray as Kakashi-sensei before I turn seventeen," Naruto huffed as he took one last look at the disaster that was his hair before he bounded over to the bed and poked the kid in the stomach. "I do hope you know this means war, kid; dattebayo!"

The kid just snickered at him and glanced up at his handy work yet again and Naruto shook his head and grinned; he loved hearing the kid laugh. It had taken him almost five days to get the kid to actually feel comfortable enough to laugh out loud (soft though it was) and he felt like he truly accomplished something each time he drew a laugh from him. He still wouldn't speak but Naruto figured words would come in time. A few more prods brought forth a few more giggles before Naruto quickly held his hands up in surrender when he noticed the kid drawing the index finger of his right hand along the blanket once more; he did _not_ want to see what a second spark would do to his hair.

"Bathroom?" Naruto asked once the danger passed. The kid nodded at the familiar question; bathroom being one of the first words he'd begun to recognize.

Naruto deftly closed the drip lines still attached to the kid's IV (down to just the saline and antibiotics – the latter of which he'd be receiving for another two days yet before he'd run the full course) and easily detached the lines from the needle. He then scooped the kid up into his arms and carried him to the bathroom so he could use the toilet, wash his hands and face, and change into a fresh set of clothes. Naruto would then carry him back to the room so that Kitou could perform his morning inspection of the kid's wounds while he sent a pair of clones to make the three of them breakfast and dismissed the clone that had been hanging around since the day before.

Twenty minutes later, as they ate their natto and steamed rice, Naruto contemplated his ward; specifically he wondered on how to get the kid to at least give him his name – he couldn't just call him kid or brat for the rest of his life. He'd tried listing hundreds of names but the kid never responded to any of them; which meant the kid either couldn't remember his name or he had a rather obscure one that Naruto hadn't heard before. He absently finished the last of his breakfast as he considered how he'd gotten the boy to recognize a few dozen simple words using a combination of repetition and pantomime. He then recalled that he'd only ever introduced himself once that first night.

Setting his empty bowl to one side, Naruto tapped the kid on the knee, waited for him to look up, and pointed to himself as he stated, "Naruto." He then pointed across the room towards the medic and added, "Kitou-san." Finally, he pointed at the kid and waited patiently only for the kid to furrow his brow at him in confusion before he shrugged his shoulders.

Undeterred, Naruto snagged his old group photo of Team Seven as an additional prop before he reintroduced himself and Kitou. He then carefully pointed to Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke, and himself in the picture and named each one of them in turn. Naruto repeated the introductions twice more before he attempted to test the kid to see if he understood yet.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked without pointing to the gray-haired Jounin. The kid automatically glanced at the photo before glancing back up at him and Naruto asked a second time, "Kakashi-sensei?" This time the kid tentatively reached out and pointed to Kakashi's picture as he glanced back and forth between the picture and Naruto. Naruto nodded and gave the kid a grin even as he asked, "Sakura-chan?" The kid was two for two now as his finger moved to jab at the pink haired kunoichi in the picture. Just to be doubly certain, Naruto asked one final time, "Naruto?"

This time the kid pointed to Naruto's picture before he swung his hand around to point at Naruto himself. Naruto reached forward and ruffled the kid's hair as he grinned and nodded. The fifteen year old then leaned forward and pointed at his chest as he said his own name one last time before he swung his finger around to point at the kid as he tilted his head to one side and crossed his fingers that the kid would answer him at last. He felt a small stab of disappointment when the kid furrowed his brow in confusion but held his tongue when it became apparent that the kid wasn't just avoiding the question.

The boy's frustration was almost palpable when his eyes locked on something only he could see as he reached up and buried his hands in his hair. Two and a half minutes later, a soft frustrated growl slipped out from the child as he began pulling at his hair and shaking his head back and forth. Worried that he might hurt himself, Naruto gently reached out and pulled the kid into his lap, softly shushing him as he untangled the kid's fingers and rocked him from side to side as he looked up and sought out the medic; concern and confusion filling his sapphire eyes.

"Kitou-san…?"

The older man stepped up to the bed and gently probed the kid's head with his fingers; gently massaging the kid's scalp as he searched for any evidence that the kid had hit his head at some point. After a few minutes, he dropped his hands and shook his head no before announcing, "I found no evidence that he's suffered a head wound recently; though I can't rule out the possibility that he suffered a significant head wound at some point in the past. I would advise you to speak with Hokage-sama about making arrangement to get the child an appointment to get a series of x-rays, CT Scans, and MRIs done. Additionally, you might consider getting her permission to have one of the Yamanaka take a peek inside his mind and see what they can find."

"I am supposed to see her later this morning, I'll bring it up with her afterwards," Naruto declared as he continued to sooth the distraught child in his arms.

Naruto cuddled and held the boy until he drifted back to sleep before he reluctantly settled him on the bed. He lingered beside the child for a moment before he reached out and moved the child's bangs off his forehead so he could see the odd lightning bolt scar that marred the kid's brow just above and to the right of his left eye. Running his finger over the slightly raised line, he wondered how the kid had got it and if it had anything to do with the kid's apparent memory loss. Sighing, Naruto rose to his feet and created a new trio of shadow clones that he ordered to stay and watch over the kid before he reluctantly made his way out of the apartment.

His feet carried him towards the Hokage's Tower of their own accord as his thoughts remained on the puzzle that was his ward. He never noticed the gaping stares that followed him as he walked through the streets; the fifteen year old had completely forgotten that the kid had pranked his hair. Long before he was ready, he found himself standing outside the Hokage's office and he took a moment to center his thoughts before he opened the door and stepped inside.

"Tadaima, baachan!" Naruto greeted loudly with his usual enthusiasm, though the grin he wore was far smaller than it normally would be and the happiness he was displaying didn't reach his eyes.

The pink haired kunoichi that was already in the room took immediate offense to Naruto's overly familiar greeting and quickly made her displeasure known, "_Naruto_! Tsunade-shishou is the Hokage; show her more respect!" Sakura then attempted to pound him on the head, like she normally did when Naruto pissed her off, only for her hand to encounter the stunning personality that his hair had developed before her hand could connect. The sixteen year old kunoichi yelped and clutched her hand as she stared at Naruto in shock; or more specifically she stared at his hair.

"You look positively electrifying this morning, Naruto-kun," Tsunade drawled as she too stared at his head.

"He's always had a rather shocking personality, Tsunade-sama," Shizune commented around a giggle.

"What did you do to your hair, Naruto?" Sakura demanded in a tight voice.

"Oh, it's nice to see you taking charge for once, Naruto," Kakashi interjected before the blond could answer Sakura's question as the man slipped in through the window at that moment.

Naruto felt his face flush red as he covered his face with his hands as he suddenly recalled the horror that his ward had turned his hair into. Although, he might have to thank the kid later because the prank had inadvertently saved his poor head from what had promised to be a painful pounding. After another few seconds he pulled his hands away and grinned sheepishly at the other four people in the office as he mumbled, "I was pranked by a little friend of mine this morning."

"Nice to see the gaki has a spark of creativity in him," Tsunade declared with a soft laugh.

"I still can't believe he messed with my hair," Naruto grumbled as he reached up to rub the back of his head only to bite back a yelp as he shocked himself; _again_.

"Who are you talking about?" Sakura asked as she glanced between Tsunade and Naruto.

"Not important," Tsunade stated before Naruto could answer. "I called the three of you here this morning for a very important reason. Naruto, you need to show me what you learned while you were gone and Sakura, you will need to show me that you weren't just wasting your time training under me. I will determine your status and assign you future missions based upon the results of this test."

"Oh? What kind of test is it going to be, baachan?" Naruto asked curiously before he frowned. "Is this test going to be taking very long? I kinda have things to do, dattebayo."

"How long the test takes is up to you," Tsunade announced as she leaned back in her chair and studied him. "You and Sakura shall be facing off against Kakashi in order to demonstrate what you have learned over the past two years."

"We have to fight Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto exclaimed as he glanced sideways at the man. "But… but that will take hours! He's always late and even if we fight right now he'd get lost on the way to the training ground! I don't have that kind of time right now."

"Naruto…" Sakura warned as she curled her hand into a fist only to pause and glance up at his hair for a moment and take a deep breath before she uncurled her hand and hissed, "What could possibly be more important than demonstrating your current skills to the Hokage?"

Naruto just shook his head and met Tsunade's gaze; the Hokage knew exactly what he thought was more important than showing off what he'd learned while out of the village training with Ero-Sennin. Thinking about the kid brought back the memories from earlier that morning and he crossed his arms over his chest as he recalled how distraught the child had been. A scowl formed on his face at the thought of adding to the child's current stress by disappearing for who knew how many hours just to fight his old sensei.

"It can't be helped," Tsunade sighed as she drummed her fingers on the desk. "I'll give you three hours to prepare and then you will need to face off against Kakashi with Sakura on Training Ground Three. I've put this off for far too long as it is; I'd originally intended to have you tested the day after you returned."

"But…"

"Not negotiable, Naruto."

"I… fine; but Kakashi-sensei had better not be late."

"And he used to be such a sweet kid," Kakashi grumbled as he glanced sideways at Naruto.

"I could say the same about you, Kakashi," Tsunade dryly pointed out.

"Hah… all kids are menaces," Naruto countered petulantly as he recalled what one particular little kid had done to his hair just that morning. "The cuter they are, the bigger the menace they are."

"Hnn…" Tsunade grunted around what Naruto thought sounded suspiciously like a laugh. "Well? What are you waiting for? Get out of here already; you have an exam that you need to prepare for."

Sakura and Kakashi both immediately took their leave while Naruto remained where he was standing. The blond glanced after Sakura once, his feelings for her just as strong as they had been back before he'd left the village to train with Jiraiya, but he glanced away just as quickly; he refused to allow his feelings for Sakura to distract him from his responsibility.

"What are you waiting for, Naruto?" Sakura demanded as she paused on the doorway. "We have to get ready."

"I'll meet you outside of Training Ground Three in three hours; there are a couple of things I have to do first."

"Why are you still here, gaki?" Tsunade asked when she looked up from her paperwork a minute later.

"It's about the kid… he…"

"Spit it out already."

"Kitou-san said he's going to need a bunch of tests to check for an old injury because he's all messed up in the head."

"Nani…?"

"I taught the kid all of Team Seven's name this morning; it didn't take him long to start recognizing the names and matching the name to the picture I used to teach him. I figured if he knew I was giving him names, then I could get him to give me his name. At first I thought he was still confused but then he started panicking…"

"A possible indication of memory loss… I take that Kitou found no traces of a recent head injury that we might have missed?"

"Hai. He said something about x-rays and some other kind of scans. He also said something about someone being able to peek inside the kid's head to see what happened."

"The Yamanaka Clan… Inoichi is particularly skilled in the mind walking techniques. I will send him a message and have him meet us at your apartment later this afternoon or evening; providing you complete your test in a timely manner. We can schedule the gaki to be put through a series of scans later; should it still prove necessary. How is the child doing otherwise?"

"He's doing alright, though he still sleeps most of the time. He's still very clingy and he won't let Kitou-san check his injuries unless I'm there beside him. He also doesn't like it when I leave him alone for very long and leaving a clone to sit with him doesn't help because he knows it's not me; even if he doesn't see me make the clone. The moment I return, he latches onto me and refuses to let me go for hours afterwards."

"I see. You'll need to break him of that habit fairly quickly; you can't take him with you on missions and you won't always be able to leave behind a clone to watch over him. It's not good for him to be quite so dependent upon you."

"I know that, baachan; I've been trying my best but the kid doesn't really understand," Naruto replied tiredly as he reached up to run his hand through his hair; for once ignoring the bite of static electricity as the sparks jumped onto his hand. Whatever was powering the prank fizzled out the moment Naruto's fingers touched his hair but his mind was far too wrapped up in his worry about the kid to notice. "And because he won't talk and doesn't understand more than half of what I say it's not like I can just ask him why he's so afraid."

"I'm certain you'll figure out something," Shizune encouraged as she smiled at Naruto. "You've always had a knack of getting through to even the most stubborn of individuals."

Naruto flashed a small grin at her in response and bid both women good day before he left the building. He paused just long enough to glance up at the Hokage's Monument before he headed home as he turned his thoughts to his upcoming match against Kakashi.

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**Translations:** Japanese to English

Ero-Sennin – Pervy Sage  
Gaki – brat  
Gama Sennin – Toad Sage  
Nani – what  
Natto – fermented soy beans (often eaten with steamed rice and various toppings)

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**AN:** _And that's chapter three... chapter four will be up in two or three days. I will also try to answer questions/reviews here soon. ~ Jenn__  
_


	4. Introductions

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _Mentions of character death, angst and drama, mild to moderate violence, mature content (foul language & mentions of alcohol), and AU._ _Child!Harry, Powerful!Harry, Intelligent!Harry, NOTstupid!Naruto, Powerful!Naruto, and Protective!Naruto. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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**Chapter 3: Introductions**

_August 08, 1986, Late Afternoon/Evening  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Naruto shared a smirk with Sakura as they both held up one of the two bells that they'd spent the last four hours trying to take from their Jounin sensei. They would have been able to get the bells sooner if they would have stopped to consider Kakashi's weaknesses before they'd thrown themselves headfirst into the fight. As it was, it had been sheer happenstance that Naruto had found a certain book in his utility pouch when he was digging for more exploding tags just twenty minutes earlier; he'd completely forgotten about the advanced copy of _Icha-Icha Tactics_ that Jiraiya had asked him to give to Kakashi in the wake of finding and saving his ward.

Using the book against Kakashi had been all too easy at that point.

"Congratulations, Naruto and Sakura; you have both proven yourselves to be highly capable shinobi," Tsunade stated as she appeared beside the trio along with Shizune. "After watching and analyzing your performance, I have come to a decision on what I will be doing with the two of you. From this point forward, Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura will be teamed up with Hatake Kakashi in a three man squad designated as Team Kakashi."

"What exactly does that mean?" Naruto asked in confusion as he glanced between the Godaime Hokage and his grinning sensei.

"It means that the two of you are no longer my students and I am no longer your teacher," Kakashi explained as he smiled and pulled his hitai-ate back down to recover his Sharingan. "We will be taking missions from this point forward as a team made up of equals."

"Sugoi!" Naruto crowed as he grinned at his former sensei.

"Well, if we're finally done here I've got a few things I need to do before the day is over," Kakashi announced as he pulled his new book out of his utility pouch once more. "I'll see the two of you first thing in the morning."

A stricken look appeared on Naruto's face as he finally realized just how long it had taken him and Sakura to take the bells from Kakashi. Naruto bit out a soft curse and dashed off in the direction of his apartment without bothering to acknowledge Kakashi's request for him to meet with him in the morning, leaving behind two confused teammates and two exasperated kunoichi. He made it home in a record fifteen minutes and dashed up the side of the building in order to avoid wasting time walking up the stairs.

He kicked off his shoes the moment he stepped through the door and hurried towards the back of the apartment where his bedroom was located. The moment he opened the bedroom door he knew something had happened. All of the clones that he'd left to watch over the kid while he was gone were missing and Kitou was propped up against the wall between the sliding glass door and the door to his closet massaging his temples (as if to ward off a headache). The bedding that had covered the bed just four and a half hours earlier was strewn across the floor, the kid's uneaten lunch had been knocked over onto the floor, and there was no sign of the kid anywhere in the room.

"What happened?" Naruto demanded as he stepped inside the room. "And where's the kid?"

"He grew agitated and started acting as if he was in pain when you didn't return after the first hour; he refused to let me near enough to check him though, so I couldn't tell what was wrong with him. Barely twenties minutes after that, he tore his IV out, knocked over the tray holding his lunch, and attempted to flee through the window. Your clones stopped him but they were dispelled in the scuffle and the kid freaked out completely before he locked himself inside of the closet," Kitou replied as he glanced up to meet Naruto's gaze. "He's been in there ever since because I've not been able to open the door."

"What do you mean he locked himself in the closet? The closet door doesn't have a lock."

"Your guess is as good as mine because I have no idea what he did or how he did it."

"Sugoi," Naruto huffed sarcastically as he walked up to his closet and pulled on the door; confirming that it was well and truly locked. He knocked on the door a couple of times before he called out, "Oi, gaki; it's Naruto here. Can you unlock the door and come on out now?"

Hoping that the kid had recognized the sound of his voice (if nothing else) and undid whatever it was he'd done to lock the closet, Naruto tugged on the door again but it was still locked. Pursing his lips, Naruto considered the door for a moment before he pulled out a kunai and used it to remove the pins from the hinges. It was a trick that he'd taught himself to break into those doors with locks that couldn't be picked back when he used to prank his biggest tormenters (the teachers) while he was still in the academy.

Hoping this particular trick would work on a door that had most likely been locked using the kid's strange power, Naruto slipped the kunai between the door and the door jam on the hinge side and pushed outwards in order to lever the door out of place. Unfortunately, it didn't work; the entire door apparently glued into place. Not willing to give up, Naruto next used the kunai to pry the nails out of one of the nine slats that made up the door (which he'd cobbled together himself after his previous door had fallen apart during his final year at the academy) and attempted to pry the slat out of the door.

The long plank of wood bowed slightly outwards but stubbornly remained in place; the top and bottom edges of the slat securely fastened to the frame of the doorway. Far from being discouraged by the newest obstacle, Naruto grinned triumphantly as he cut through the board just below where it was stuck at the top and where it was attached at the bottom before removing the middle section.

Naruto removed a second plank from the door using the same method before he crouched down and stuck his head through the door in order to look for the kid using the light pouring into the closet from his bedroom. He found the kid curled up in a nest made from his old clothes and wrapped up in one of his extra orange and black tracksuit jackets. Dull green eyes glanced in his direction before the kid rolled over and presented Naruto his back and Naruto felt like someone had just stabbed him in the heart with a kunai.

Swallowing around the lump that had formed in his throat, Naruto shifted sideways so he could push himself a little further into the closet. Once he got a shoulder through the opening he'd made in the door, he stretched his arm out towards the kid only to find the kid was just out of reach. Ignoring the sides of the door scraping against his chest and back, Naruto wedged himself further into the opening he'd made until his fingers brushed against the kid's back. He felt the kid tense at the touch and he felt another pang in his heart because it had been over three days since the last time the kid had reacted that way to Naruto's touch.

"I know you're unhappy with me right now but I came back just like I promised I would," Naruto softly stated as he continued to lightly run his fingers up and down the kid's back. "I hadn't planned to be gone quite so long but Kakashi-sensei was no pushover. I'm here now though and I would be much happier if you would come on out now."

The kid rolled over onto his belly and out of reach of Naruto's hand before he turned his head to stare at Naruto. The teen felt a spike of worry fill him when he saw no sign of recognition filling the child's eyes and noticed that they were empty of all emotion. He hoped and prayed that he hadn't lost the kid's trust because he had the sneaking suspicion it would be nigh on impossible to regain said trust.

Naruto was still trying to figure out what to do next when the kid slowly pushed up off the floor and twisted himself around so that he was sitting just out of reach of Naruto's outstretched hand. As Naruto watched, the kid pulled on the edges of the oversized jacket he was wearing to pull it tighter against his body as he shivered.

"You're not getting sick on me now, are you kid?" Naruto asked in concern as he dropped his arm to the floor and used it to lever himself just a little further into the closet; both to get closer to the kid and to ease some of the pressure of having his chest firmly wedged in the hole he'd made in the door.

There was no look of comprehension in the kid's eyes; not that Naruto really expected the kid to understand the question. He was just contemplating on whether or not he should try squeezing the rest of the way into the closet when his bedroom door opened unexpectedly behind him. Naruto turned to face the door out of habit and ended up wedging himself even tighter into the opening.

"Naruto, I need you to come out to the kitchen to speak with…" Tsunade's voice began to order before she trailed off and demanded, "What the hell are you doing, gaki?"

"Naruto-kun is attempting to extract his wayward ward from the closet," Kitou explained. "The child locked himself in there over three hours ago after he grew distressed over Naruto-kun's extended absence."

"So what is taking so long? Just grab the kid and pull him out already."

"Urusai, baachan!" Naruto growled hotly as he twisted his head around to scowl in her direction (not that she could see his face at the moment). "He's mistrustful enough of me right now as it is; I'm not about to break his trust completely by forcefully dragging him out!"

Naruto heard Tsunade splutter indignantly but he ignored her in favor of focusing on the kid once more. This time when he met the child's leaf-green gaze, he found them filled with confusion and more than a little trepidation and Naruto nearly scowled as he realized he must have frightened the kid when he'd yelled at the Hokage.

"Sorry about that, kid," Naruto murmured as he offered the boy a shaky smile. "Baachan can be so bossy sometimes."

The kid blinked at him in confusion as the fear slowly faded from his eyes. Taking that as a good sign, Naruto tried shifting around so he could move further into the closet only to find that he was well and truly stuck in the door. He tried backing out of the opening but he didn't have any luck with that either. Groaning, Naruto tried to thump his head on the ground but the way he was trapped prevented him from reaching. Letting his chin drop to his chest, Naruto closed his eyes and tried to think of a solution to both of his current predicaments; getting the kid out of the closet followed immediately by getting himself unstuck.

The feeling of fingers brushing through his hair had Naruto lifting his head and opening his eyes to find the kid kneeling right in front of him. The teen hardly dared to breathe as he was instantly caught up in the penetrating gaze of the child and felt his soul being weighed once more. When the moment passed, the kid's hand continued to pet him for a moment before he dropped his hand down to trace the whisker marks on his left cheek. The next thing he knew, the kid had latched onto his neck and burying his head against his shoulder as his small body began trembling. Naruto hugged him as best he could; stuck as he was inside of the door with one arm trapped on the outside.

"It's okay, kiddo, I've got you now," Naruto crooned softly as he noted the heat radiating from the child (evidence that the kid had developed a fever). Once the kid calmed down a bit, he raised his voice slightly to ask, "Kitou-san; are you still there?"

"Hai; did you need something?"

"Yeah, could you please cut another plank free of the door? I kinda managed to get myself stuck and can't get either of us out of here."

"Give me a minute," Kitou replied around what sounds like a laugh.

Naruto huffed as a blush crept up the back of his neck. He then pushed his embarrassment to the side as the kid currently clinging limpet-like to his neck shifted and tried to burrow further into Naruto's shoulder. He soon felt the vibrations of a knife cutting through the plank pressed up against his back and he used his free hand to brace his weight so that when the board was removed he wouldn't drop the kid or worse fall on top of him. Two minutes later, he felt the board being pulled away and he took a deep breath of relief before he slithered the rest of the way into the closet, took a seat on the floor, and properly cuddled with the kid.

"Arigatou, Kitou-san; we'll be out in a few minutes."

He dropped his head and rested his cheek on the kid's head and closed his eyes as he let the guilt and worry he'd been feeling be washed away by the utter relief he felt knowing that he'd not lost the kid's trust completely. He wasn't quite certain when or how it had happened but in the short time since he'd rescued the child from the dog attack, the kid had become very important to him. Yet another precious bond he'd had the privilege of forming and this one was wrapped around him far tighter than any of the others he'd made throughout his lifetime (though he wouldn't learn just how tightly he was bound to the child until later). That the child was so dependent upon him was humbling and more than a bit alarming (almost terrifying) considering his chosen profession was extremely dangerous.

Sighing softly, Naruto opened his eyes and leaned back just enough to gaze at the small body practically glued to his chest as he mentally asked himself, _What am I supposed to do with you when I am sent out on my next mission? How are you going to cope when I am gone for days and weeks at a time when you couldn't handle me being gone for more than an hour?_

Sighing again, Naruto carefully rose to his feet and studied the closet door. The opening between the planks was not wide enough for him to slip through while holding the kid and he seriously doubted that the kid would allow him to hand him through the opening to someone standing on the other side. He also didn't think the kid was willing or capable of walking through on his own at the moment. As he inspected the door, he noticed the soft glow of gold coming from around the edges of the door; proof that it had been the boy's power that had sealed the door shut.

"You think maybe you can turn the glow off, kid?" Naruto inquired after he'd finished studying the door and its makeshift lock. One green eye peeked up at him from beneath the kid's messy back hair and Naruto stepped closer to the door, turned to the side, and pointed at the soft glow of gold coming from the door frame.

The kid stared at the door for a moment before turning back to Naruto. He then turned back towards the door a second time as he tentatively let go of Naruto's neck with his left hand and brush his fingers across the seam between the door and the wall. Two seconds later, the kid withdrew his arm and the door fell outwards as the kid reattached himself to Naruto and burrowed back into his shoulder.

"I think I'm going to need a new closet door," Naruto deadpanned as he watched what was left of the door break apart upon hitting the floor. He then glanced about the room nervously as he recalled just how badly he had disrespected Tsunade earlier and he was a bit surprised that she wasn't looming about glowering at him.

"Tsunade-sama stormed out just before you asked me to cut you loose," Kitou offered from where he was standing beside the recently remade bed holding an unopened IV needle. "What do you think the chances are that he'd cooperate right now if I attempted to place another IV?"

"I think he'd probably freak out right about now; he started trembling again the moment I stepped out of the closet."

"I suspected that might be the case but had to ask to be sure," Kitou mused as he tucked the spare needle back into the box of supplies. "I'll go ahead and leave you to calm him down then. I'll be back at the usual time tomorrow morning, though if you need me to return sooner, just send a Kage Bunshin to get me."

"Shimeta, Kitou-san."

Naruto watched the medic disappear in a swirl of leaves before he headed to the kitchen intent on making some tea for himself and pouring some cold juice for the kid and maybe fixing them something to eat since he knew the kid hadn't eaten his lunch. The moment he crossed the small entrance hall and stepped into the kitchen he stumbled to a stop as he caught sight of the number of people packed into his puny little kitchen. He felt more than a little awkward as six pairs of eyes swung around as one to stare at him (one particular pair of honey colored eyes glaring at him).

He'd expected both Tsunade and Shizune to be there (he knew that there was no way the Hokage would have left without taking the time to express her displeasure over his earlier disrespect) but he'd completely forgotten that Tsunade was going to be bringing an expert to sort through the kid's memories. He also hadn't been expecting her to bring along the additional tagalongs (which included Kakashi and Sakura); given how she'd specifically told him not to tell anyone about the kid.

"Ano…"

"Naruto, why are you holding a kid? Where did he come from? Who is he?" Sakura asked in confusion.

"Ano…" Naruto repeated as he continued to glance between the six individuals in his kitchen. His attention was soon pulled to the child in his arms though when the kid shifted and let out a soft whimper and he glanced down to find the kid staring at the people gathered around Naruto's kitchen in fear. Wanting to avoid the brewing panic attack, Naruto ran his hand up and down the kid's back as he softly spoke, "Easy there, kid, no one here is going to hurt you. I'm certain you remember Tsunade-baachan and Shizune-chan; they helped me fix you up when you were hurt. You should also recognize Kakashi-sensei…"

The kid glanced up at Naruto briefly before he frowned and glanced towards the only gray haired man in the room and hesitantly pointed to the man before he glanced back up at Naruto. Naruto beamed down at the kid and nodded enthusiastically as he continued, "I knew you were smart, kid! I bet you remember Sakura-chan too. Very good, I knew you'd remember her. See? There's no reason to be afraid. Shall we properly introduce you to everyone?"

He moved further into the room but stopped the moment the kid tensed up and whimpered a second time. He spent another couple of minutes whispering soft reassurances in the boy's ear before he slowly began moving forward again the moment the kid relaxed a bit. The process was repeated each time the kid tensed until he came to a stop right just a few feet away from Kakashi, who happened to have been the one standing closest the kitchen door. He then spent another five minutes removing the kid's arms from around his neck so that he could prop the kid on his hip in order for the boy to properly see the Jounin.

"This is Hatake Kakashi," Naruto reintroduced as he gestured to the gray-haired man before he moved around the table to the man he knew was Yamanaka Ino's father; his long blond hair and the black ringed blue-green, pupil-less eyes a dead give away. "This is Yamanaka Inoichi." This time he repeated the name a couple of times to make certain the kid would remember it before he moved another few steps around the table to stop beside the only other man in the room; the father of Nara Shikamaru. "Next is Nara Shikaku."

Again he repeated the new name a couple of times before he formally introduced Shizune, Tonton, and Tsunade in the same way; since he'd not really introduced the kid to them in the past. His trek around the room ended beside Sakura as he introduced the pink haired kunoichi to his ward last. Naruto then moved so that the kid could see all six of them and took a moment to test the kid's memory to make certain he remembered who was who before he introduced the kid to everyone else. Part of him noted that the kid had not once looked any of the others in the eye as he'd introduced them and he wondered why since he distinctly recalled that penetrating gaze the kid had leveled at him the night he'd found him and again just now when he'd been trying to get him out of the closet.

"Everyone, this is the kid I found on my first night back in Konoha and saved from a rather large and vicious stray dog that had attacked and bit him."

"If he was injured by the dog, shouldn't he be in the hospital? Or was the bite not that serious?" Sakura inquired as she furrowed her brow in confusion and concern.

"I tried taking him to the hospital; they wouldn't treat him so I brought him home to clean him up and treat the bite," Naruto answered after glancing to Tsunade for permission; which she'd promptly given. "I've been taking care of him ever since and baachan made me his official guardian yesterday because the kid refuses to have anything to do with anyone else unless I am with him. That reminds me, Tsunade-baachan; I thought you didn't want me to tell anyone about the kid?"

"After seeing how well the three of you still worked together earlier; I thought it best if you had someone to whom you could confide in. They also would have grown suspicious if you let loose any more slips like you did this morning in my office and taken to snooping around to find out what you were hiding."

"What's his name?" Kakashi asked as the other three newly introduced shinobi digested the information that Naruto had essentially become a parent and the fact that he'd been ordered to keep that information a secret.

"I don't know and he doesn't seem to know either. He also doesn't really understand much of what we're saying; though he understands far more than he did the first night I brought him home."

"There isn't a whole lot we've been able to learn about the gaki," Tsunade groused from her seat at the table. "Most of what we know has been thanks to Naruto spending the past week taking care of him. Before I say anything further about the child though, you need to know that everything you are about to learn is considered to be classified information. It can be considered an S Class village secret and speaking of what you learn today to anyone not in this room or Jiraiya and without my explicit permission will be considered treason and will be punishable by death. That includes the fact that the kid even exists."

"Nande?" Sakura asked as she glanced between the Hokage and the kid still glued to Naruto's side.

"The reason will be fairly obvious once you know what we've learned so far," Shizune explained as she set Tonton down on the floor.

"Does it have anything to do with the fact that I have been unable to sense the boy's chakra at any point since entering the apartment?" Inoichi inquired curiously.

"That's a large part of it," Tsunade agreed. "You see, the reason that you can't sense his chakra is because he doesn't have any chakra. Technically, the kid should be dead as he doesn't have a chakra network and as far as we can tell, never had one."

"That is why the medics at the hospital refused to treat the child despite the fact that he was injured," Shikaku quickly deduced.

"Hai," Naruto confirmed as he created a pair of shadow clones and instructed one to pour out a glass of water for the kid and make a pot of tea while he sent the other clone out to get groceries and something for supper after discovering that he didn't have much food left in the house. "The medic on duty that night thought I was playing some kind of prank."

"How terrible!" Sakura whispered.

"How badly was he injured?" Kakashi asked as he studied the kid with his one visible eye.

"The dog tore his left leg up pretty bad," Naruto replied as he turned and gently pulled up the kid's left pant leg to reveal the bottom half of his leg covered with multiple half-healed puncture wounds and gashes (the worst of which had been stitched closed). "Tsunade-baachan and Shizune-chan spent hours fixing him up."

"Hours?" Shikaku repeated in confusion.

"Aside from the recent dog bite, the kid had been attacked and injured by an unknown assailant," Shizune stated in response to the question. "The wound appeared to be at least a week or two old and badly infected. As best we could tell, he was attacked by someone wielding some kind of fire whip jutsu or a heated whip or rope; the wound wrapped around his body several times from armpit to ankle, had a uniform width of approximately one inch, and the skin along the edge of the wound and some of the tissue beneath it was burnt. His small body is also littered with dozens of older scars that indicate that had not been the first time he had been critically injured."

"Why would someone want to attack a child though?" Sakura cried out in shock.

"Someone who was most likely afraid of the child's… Kekkei Genkai for lack of a better word," Tsunade grimly replied as Naruto's clone served her a cup of tea before it served the others and passed the glass of water to Naruto so he could coax the kid into drinking something to help reduce his fever.

"If the kid doesn't have any chakra, how could he possibly have a Kekkei Genkai?" Kakashi asked in confusion as he pushed away from the wall and moved closer to where Naruto was standing while shoving his hitai-ate off of his left eye in order to study the kid with his Sharingan.

The moment Kakashi revealed the tomoe filled red eye the kid stiffened in Naruto's arms and swung his head around to stare up at the Jounin. Ageless green eyes met mismatched gray and red and Kakashi froze mid-step as the kid weighed and measured the twenty-nine year old's soul. A brief moment later, Naruto felt the kid twist in his arms as he reached out towards Kakashi's face with his right hand. Like that first night when the kid had healed Naruto's bloody nose and reversed Tsunade's premature aging, the moment the kid's small hand covered Kakashi's left eye, a golden light radiated out from beneath the kid's fingers.

To Naruto it seemed as if they'd been standing there for hours when the glow finally faded and the kid dropped his hand away from Kakashi's face. In reality, it had been less than five minutes. Kakashi gasped and dropped backwards onto the floor as he stared up at the kid who was now slumped against Naruto's chest with his eyes closed; both of the Jounin's eyes wide open in shock. Naruto stared down at his sensei for a moment before he shook himself out of his daze and turned his attention to the boy in his arms. Once he was certain the kid was fine, if exhausted and still feverish, Naruto mechanically walked up to the table, set the untouched glass of water on the table, and dropped into the only unoccupied chair.

"What just happened?" Inoichi inquired as he glanced between the kid and Kakashi.

"If I'm not mistaken; the kid just used his Kekkei Genkai to heal the damage caused by the Sharingan," Tsunade explained as she sat back in her chair while Shizune rushed around the table to check on Kakashi.

Knowing the kid would flip out if he saw Shizune using healing chakra on the older shinobi, Naruto shifted the kid so that his face was buried against his chest and turned so that his body was between the kid's face and Kakashi.

"What makes you think he was healing Kakashi?" Shikaku asked with a frown.

"Because that was the second time I have witnessed the kid heal another person and I was personally healed by him the night I first met him," Tsunade stated simply as she took a sip of her tea.

"How did the kid know that there was something wrong with Kakashi's Sharingan?" Shikaku asked next.

"I don't know how he knew; just like I don't know how he knew there was something wrong with me," Tsunade replied as she frowned briefly at the kid in question. "All I can say is that it felt like my soul was laid bare the first time I looked into his eyes and the next thing I knew I had been engulfed in a cocoon of soothing warmth that vanished in the next instant after a seeming eternity. I was left feeling like I'd regained twenty or thirty years of my life."

"It felt like he could see straight to the heart of my soul as he stared into my eyes," Kakashi added as Shizune helped him back up onto his feet once he'd gotten over the shock of unexpectedly having his Sharingan healed. "The moment the warmth engulfed my eye, I could physically feel the nerves and muscles in and around my Sharingan eye realigning themselves. For as long as I can remember, there has been a measure of discomfort associated with my Sharingan in addition to the constant drain on my chakra. The discomfort is completely gone now and the amount of chakra that is being pulled by the Sharingan has been significantly reduced. Obito's eye finally feels as if it is truly a part of me; though I still can't deactivate the Sharingan."

"All of the internal scarring from the emergency field transplantation has been healed as well," Shizune added as she returned to Tsunade's side.

"What else can the kid do?" Sakura asked curiously.

"He can heal – obviously, he can form a solid shield of energy that will block physical attacks, he can generate a form of electricity, and he can glue a door shut using his power," Naruto replied as he ran his fingers through the kid's hair.

"It was the kid that pranked you this morning, ne?" Kakashi asked as he grinned at the blond.

"Hai."

"If the kid can heal; why didn't he heal himself?" Shikaku inquired with a slight frown.

"That is just one of the questions that we don't have an answer to," Tsunade groused as she threw another frown in the boy's direction. "I suspect the ability is internalized to an extent; his injuries have been healing at an advanced rate since we cleaned the infection from the older wound – all without the aide of chakra." Tsunade then turned to face Inoichi as she stated, "We can finish filling the lot of you in on what little else we know later. What I'd like is for you to Mind Walk the gaki and see what you can learn from his memories. The things I am most interested in learning are; who his parents are, what his name is, how he was injured, who injured him, why he is terrified of healing chakra, where he came from, when and how he ended up in Konoha, and whether or not he is a threat to the village."

"I'll see what I can do, Tsunade-sama."

As Inoichi rounded the table, Naruto shifted his chair around so that the man could reach the child. As Inoichi's shadow fell across the child, the boy opened his eyes and glanced up to meet the formidable Jounin's gaze with piercing leaf-green eyes. As with each of the adults the kid had pinned with his gaze to date, Naruto was surprised over how easily the kid's gaze could freeze such a powerful shinobi in his place with nothing more than a glance. On the other hand, Naruto remembered the two times he himself had been caught up in the kid's fathomless eyes and felt as if his soul was being laid bare. When one looked into those turbulent orbs, one could see a wealth of experience and intelligence that seemed so out of place on one so young.

"Kamisama above," Inoichi breathed when the kid broke eye contact and simply curled back up against Naruto two minutes later (the kid apparently not finding the older blond in need of healing). "It was like he held my very soul in his hands and measured my worth in a single glance."

"Quite," Tsunade agreed softly.

"What happens if somebody fails that test?" Shikaku inquired softly as he glanced at each of those in the room.

"I don't think I want to know," Naruto confessed as he resumed brushing the kid's hair.

Nothing more was said as Inoichi centered himself and placed his right hand on the kid's forehead, formed half the tiger seal with his left hand, and closed his eyes as he used the mind reading technique to slip into the kid's mind in order to view the kid's memories. The kid stiffened in Naruto's arms and let out a soft whimpered growl the moment Inoichi slipped inside of his mind and Naruto leaned forward to murmur reassurances into the kid's ears as he ran his hand up and down the kid's back. Small hands snaked up and latched onto Inoichi's wrist as the kid let out an angry hiss that twisted into a soft keening whine that made Naruto wince.

"Try to relax, kid, Inoichi-san is trying to help you; he'll be done soon I'm sure," Naruto murmured as the kid twisted in his lap and tried to shove Inoichi's hand off his head.

Inoichi opened his eyes several minutes later and crouched down as he gently disentangled his hand from the kid's hands before he brushed his hand through the kid's hair and gazed at him with pity. Naruto immediately grew concerned as the kid jerked his head away from Inoichi's touch and once more buried his face against Naruto's shoulder; his tiny body trembling.

"I am so sorry, child," Inoichi stated in a tired voice as he let his hand fall back to his side.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Ano – uh/um  
Arigatou – thank you  
Gaki – brat  
Kage Bunshin – shadow clone  
Kamisama/kami – god/spirits  
Kekkei Genkai – bloodline limit  
Nande – why  
Shimeta – I've got it/all right  
Sugoi – can mean wonderful/amazing or terrible/dreadful depending on how it is said  
Tomoe – the little coma marks in the Sharingan  
Urusai – be quiet/shut up (rude)

**Notes:**

Okay, I just wanted to take a moment to say that Naruto's stunt with getting stuck in the door that appeared in this chapter was _not_ Naruto being stupid. He was far more concerned with getting the kid out of the closet and didn't think things through before he dove in headfirst, literally. He will have other such moments and small bouts of cluelessness throughout the entire story because I see that as being part of his personality. So, please keep that in mind. After all, even geniuses are allowed to have brain farts from time to time over the silliest of things and my Naruto is not a genius by any stretch of the imagination; I just made him less of an idiot without changing that loveable goof personality of his.

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**AN:** _He, he; evil cliffy I know. I could not resist when I was writing this story though. I'll have the next chapter up in a couple of days so you don't suffer for too long though. =) ~ Jenn_


	5. The Power of a Name

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _Mentions of character death, angst and drama, mild to moderate violence, mature content (foul language & mentions of alcohol), and AU._ _Child!Harry, Powerful!Harry, Intelligent!Harry, NOTstupid!Naruto, Powerful!Naruto, and Protective!Naruto. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 4: The Power of a Name**

_August 08, 1986, Evening  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

"What did you find, Inoichi?" Tsunade demanded when the man fell silent after wearily apologizing to the child.

"Nothing."

"What do you mean you found nothing?" Tsunade barked as she scowled at the interrogator.

"There was nothing to find, Tsunade-sama."

"Explain!"

"His mind is practically a blank slate; his memories start at the exact instant the dog knocked him face first into the ground," Inoichi explained as requested. "Actually, that's not quite true; his mind and memories are more like a crude sieve; full of huge gaping holes. His sensory memory and short term memory appear to be unaffected but the same can not be said for his long term memory. The damage was done mainly to his explicit memories though his implicit memories showed evidence of being affected in places as well. His semantic memory was completely erased while his episodic memory was nearly wiped clean with the few remaining memories of anything prior to the attack twisted to the point of being unrecognizable and indecipherable."

"There were only eleven episodic memories that I was able to make even partial sense of and all of them shared a common theme; pain and death overlaid with the sharp sense of loss and guilt. In the first eight memories, he witnessed the deaths of a woman with long red hair and green eyes, a bald man that appeared to have two faces, an older teen with sandy blond hair, a man with wild black hair and gray eyes, a tall old man with long white hair and an equally long beard, a greasy haired man with cold eyes, a serpentine man with cruel red eyes, another red headed woman with brown eyes, and four faceless children between the ages of nine and seventeen (two of them with black hair, one with red hair, and one with blue hair)."

"The last five individuals were all part of the same memory. All of the individuals, except the two faced man, the man with wild hair, and the greasy haired man, were killed with what looked like a healing jutsu that had been twisted into a death jutsu that killed the instant it touched a person. The last three memories were a bit more confusing as they each showed the kid being hit with the same green jutsu and experiencing extreme pain instead of death. None of the other episodic memories made any sense at all because they had far too many holes in them though most of them radiated a sense of intense pain, grief, fear, rage, and/or death."

"His unconscious memories, while mostly intact, were limited to a small handful of basic skills; crawling, walking, running, climbing, cooking, cleaning, gardening, personal hygiene, and manners. He completely lacks any memories of learning how to speak, read, or write bar what he has heard or seen since Naruto found him; which could easily explain the child's lack of comprehension that Naruto-kun spoke of earlier. He also has no actual memories of how to use his Kekkei Genkai; anything he's done since he was rescued has been accomplished through instinct alone as far as I could tell. And finally, the child has no no knowledge of who he is or was. He knows he is supposed to have a name but he has no memory of what that name is supposed to be."

"How horrible," Sakura gasped as she covered her mouth and stared at the child.

"Did you pick up any evidence of who tampered with his mind?" Tsunade demanded after taking a moment to digest what Inoichi had learned while mind walking through the child's memories.

"No; there was absolutely no trace of any chakra attached to any portion of his mind. I also found no traps, no barriers, no seals, and none of the usual tell-tale markers that are left behind whenever the mind is tampered with by an outside influence. The damage that has been done to his memories is rather strange because it is as if someone went through and erased great swathes of his memories instead of blocking, rewriting, or destroying them. Had the attacker used any of the latter three methods, there would have been far more information for me to sort through since blocked memories can be unblocked, rewritten memories would themselves have clues, and there would have been far more pieces to sort through if his memories had been crudely destroyed."

"Is there any indication that he is not an actual child? That he could be some kind of puppet or construct?"

"None whatsoever; his mind is undamaged and far too complex to have been constructed by a human (if you don't count the fact that he has no true memories of his life prior to Naruto-kun finding him). His emotions and reactions are far too real and too instinctive for them to have been fabricated. He also has the capacity to learn and grow; both physically and mentally. All of which are things that a construct or puppet would lack."

"No wonder you have been so confused and afraid, my little kodomo no nanashi," Naruto whispered hoarsely as he curled around the child as if to protect him from the world.

"Naruto no baka; that's positively cruel!" Sakura snapped as she curled her hand into a fist, drew her arm back, and attempted to pound him on the head for being so thoughtless.

Her fist would never connect; a gold shield snapped into place around the blond before she could hit him and blocked her punch. Inside of the shield, the nameless child held his right hand out towards Sakura while his left arm was tightly coiled around Naruto's neck. When Naruto glanced down, he found the kid glaring angrily at Sakura.

"Arigatou, Nanashi-kun," Naruto murmured as he reached out and pulled the kid's hand down. He waited for the shield to dissipate before he addressed Sakura. "You are my friend, Sakura-chan, and I value your opinion but if you ever threaten to hit me again while I am holding Nanashi; I will defend myself so that he does not have to."

"Naruto, can't you think of a better name to call the gaki?" Tsunade half questioned and half ordered as she scowled at the fifteen year old.

"No. Why should I force him to take a name that is not his own? Why should he have to live with a name that means nothing to him? He may have had a name before he ended up in Konoha but here he is nameless and until he knows who he is; no one has the right to demand that he be someone else. I refuse to be the one to smother any hope he has of rediscovering who he was or limiting who he wishes to be."

Complete silence filled the room in the wake of Naruto's impassioned declaration as he'd shown far more compassion in his choice of names than was immediately apparent based solely upon the meaning of said selection. He'd shown a level of insight that most people would think the brash teen incapable of accomplishing; simply because Naruto has always been a very loud and hyperactive individual who was more prone to throwing himself into any situation headfirst while wearing a blindfold rather than thinking things through.

However, Naruto had also been gifted with the uncanny ability to relate to people no matter who they were, where they were from, or how he'd met them. Prime examples of that ability would be his past interactions with Tazuna, Inari, Haku, Momochi Zabuza, Hyuuga Neji, Sabaku no Gaara, and Morino Idate just to name a few.

The moment was broken by the arrival of the clone that Naruto had sent out to pick up supper. Naruto made another couple of Kage Bunshin and set them to helping his other clone to dish out the food for everyone when it became apparent that the others were still lost in their thoughts. Once everyone was served, Naruto focused on helping the newly named Nanashi use his chopsticks and patiently naming everything he set in front of the kid; working on increasing the boy's vocabulary.

It was an eye opening display for the four individuals that had only just been introduced to the child and showed them a side of Naruto that few people had ever seen through the years (and a side that fewer people wanted to believe existed).

Naruto was completely clueless to the scrutiny he was receiving; his attention focused entirely on Nanashi as he alternately taught the kid new words and corrected his grip on the chopsticks. After the meal, Naruto set his clones to cleaning up the messes and putting away the extra food while he carried Nanashi back to his bedroom. Shizune and Tsunade followed in his wake so they could begin removing the three thousand plus stitches that decorated his body and replace the IV. The kid was still rather clingy after his rather traumatic day and refused to release his near stranglehold on the teen though, so Naruto had sat down on the bed with Nanashi draped over his lap.

As the blond teen gently prevented his ward from squirming and fidgeting while the two kunoichi worked, he reflected on what he'd learned about the child. He'd suspected that the kid had suffered through some rather traumatic incidents but he'd never suspected that the kid had seen so much death or experienced so much pain in his short life. He might not know the exact details or how exactly the kid had been harmed but he'd obviously been hurt enough that the memory of the pain had stayed with him despite the fact that nearly everything else had been taken from him. His small body was also littered with permanent reminders that he'd been harmed more than once.

The limited information that Inoichi had been able to gather also gave Naruto a better idea as to why Nanashi was so clingy after being left alone each time; the kid feared to lose the only one he could clearly remember showing him even the tiniest shred of kindness. That knowledge allowed Naruto to better understand the kid's reaction to his four hour absence earlier in the day; he now believed that Nanashi had automatically assumed that something had happened to Naruto when he hadn't returned as expected and he'd descended into grief filled panic before sinking into depression.

Naruto knew he'd have to work on increasing the length of time he could spend away from the kid before the initial panic began setting in; otherwise the kid was going to waste away wallowing in needless grief each time he left the village on a mission. Naruto's thoughts next turned to the biggest obstruction in getting Nanashi to understand that just because Naruto left for a couple of days didn't mean that he wouldn't ever come back; the child's near complete lack of memories involving any form of communication.

Naruto was already working on teaching the kid to recognize specific words and names but even Naruto knew he was not the best person to teach the kid to read, write, and speak an entire language; Naruto had always had a low tolerance for book learning. As he shifted Nanashi over onto his side so that Tsunade and Shizune could reach the stitches on the kid's left side, Naruto considered those people he knew and trusted that could teach the child what he couldn't. After a good ten minutes, Naruto came up with a single name; Umino Iruka.

"Ano… Tsunade-baachan?"

"Nani?

"Can I introduce Nanashi-kun to Iruka-sensei?"

"Naruto, I know you are very close to Iruka but you can't just go about introducing the gaki to everyone you know when there is too great a risk that an unsavory individual should learn of his abilities. I realize it will be impossible to keep him a secret forever but it's going to take time to figure out the best way to protect him until he is old enough to protect himself. We still have no clue how he ended up in Konoha or who it was that attacked him prior to you finding him."

"I know that, baachan, but even I know that I can't teach Nanashi-kun everything he'll need to know. I'm not book smart and I have no patience for written assignments. I also know that I can't send him to the academy; especially considering he basically knows nothing and has no way to communicate. Iruka-sensei is smart and he is good with kids; I also know that I can trust him."

"Why not ask Sakura to help you teach him? She graduated at the top of your class," Shizune inquired logically.

"I know Sakura-chan is smart but I don't think Nanashi will listen to her," Naruto explained as he recalled the look of fury on the kid's face when he'd created the shield that had saved him from being hit on the head by his temperamental teammate. "You didn't see the look on his face when he stopped her from hitting me earlier; I don't think he will easily forgive or forget that she tried to hit me."

"And Sakura has a habit of clobbering you upside the head whenever you provoke her anger," Tsunade added as she glanced up to meet Naruto's eyes for a split second. "Fine; I will allow you to introduce the gaki to Iruka. Go ahead and send one of your clones to track the man down and bring him back here. On the way out, you can have the clone ask Shikaku, Inoichi, or Kakashi if they'll stick around long enough to explain the situation to Iruka before you actually introduce him to the gaki."

"Hai."

Another shadow clone appeared in a puff of smoke beside Naruto and it saluted its creator before dashing out of the room to carry out its orders. The soft little grunts of discomfort Nanashi was making each time another stitch was pulled and the soft snicking of scissors snipping thread were the only sounds in the room for several long minutes until Shizune asked Naruto a question.

"I've been meaning to ask you, Naruto-kun; how do you keep all of the memories you get from your shadow clones straight in your mind? You are constantly creating dozens of them right and left; doesn't it get confusing?"

"Memories? What memories?"

"What do you mean what memories?" Tsunade demanded with a frown as she glanced sharply up at Naruto. "Didn't Jiraiya teach you about the dangers of using the Kage Bunshin when he taught you how to perform that jutsu?"

"Ero-Sennin didn't teach me the Kage Bunshin."

"Then who…?"

"I taught myself how to create the shadow clones after Mizuki-teme tricked me into stealing the Forbidden Scroll from the tower vault after I'd failed the Genin Exam for the third time because I couldn't make regular clones. It had taken me a good two hours to get it right."

"Didn't you read the warnings when you read the scroll?" Shizune asked once she'd gotten over the shock of learning that not only had Naruto successfully stolen one of the most guarded scrolls in the entire village but that he'd taught himself a jutsu from the scroll in two hours.

"Nah, I skipped right to the part that told me how to do the jutsu after seeing the part about it needing tons of chakra to perform."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Tsunade muttered rhetorically as she shook her head and resumed removing the stitches. "You're lucky you didn't turn your brain to mush. I'm surprised neither Kakashi nor Jiraiya took the time to explain the dangers of using the shadow clone seeing as how that has become your signature jutsu."

"So what did you mean by memories?"

"When you create a single shadow clone you take half of your chakra and use it to form a solid clone that is made up of pure chakra. That clone remains tied to you by a thread of chakra; that is why any clones you have made will dispel the moment you chakra is disrupted, you are knocked unconscious, or if you are killed but stick around while you sleep so long as they have enough chakra to hold the jutsu together. When one of your clones is dispelled that connection allows a fraction of the chakra you used to form the clone to return to your body and the returning chakra carries an echo of the memories and experiences that your clone formed while it was in existence."

"Really?" Naruto asked in surprise. "Huh… I never noticed."

Both Shizune and Tsunade would have palmed their faces over that declaration if their hands had not been busy. Naruto, on the other hand, lost himself in the sudden slue of potential opportunities that had just been opened up to him with the knowledge that his clones could essentially spy for him. The giddy grin on his face would have sent most people fleeing in fear for their sanity if they'd seen it.

It only took Tsunade and Shizune about forty-five minutes total to remove all of Nanashi's stitches; mostly due to the early interruptions when they'd been discussing introducing Nanashi to Iruka and the shadow clone's ability as well as the fact that there had been so many stitches. Naruto was relieved to see that the extensive wound that wrapped around Nanashi's body looked no where near as terrible as it had when he'd first seen it. Those that had been caused by the dog that had attacked the child were in even better condition and looked as if the scarring from the bite would be almost nonexistent.

Once they were finished, Naruto carried Nanashi to the bathroom and drew the kid a bath. While he waited for the tub to fill up, he washed Nanashi's hair and encouraged him to scrub himself before rinsing him off in the shower (once he'd managed to convince the kid to let go of him). A healing tincture was then added to the bathwater before Naruto settled the kid inside of the tub (the tincture designed to stimulate a person's natural healing ability and help kill off any bacteria and germs that might be in the water to prevent them from infecting open wounds).

While he let the warm water sooth the kid's injuries, Naruto found himself caught up in old memories of living on his own before and during his academy years (after he'd been kicked out of the orphanage around age five). He distinctly remembered the aching loneliness, the pain of constant rejection, the endless confusion, and the burning need for recognition and acceptance that he'd felt in the years leading up to earning his hitai-ate. Then there were the memories of all the times he'd been attacked (both by angry villagers and enemies he'd faced on missions). He also recalled the happy memories he had of spending time with the Sandaime Hokage, Iruka-sensei, Team Seven, and Jiraiya and felt again the warmth that had curled through his belly each time they'd smiled at him.

Naruto couldn't imagine _not_ having those memories; both the good and the bad. Those memories were what made him who he was and without them he would be nobody.

It was the memories of the numerous times that he'd been attacked coupled with the knowledge that Nanashi had been attacked a number of times as well that brought Naruto to the conclusion that his ward would need to be trained.

_He will need to know how to protect himself and to do that he'll need the physical strength and endurance to both fight and flee,_ Naruto thought to himself as he leaned down to pull out the plug in order to drain the tub. When he sat back up and glanced down he found the boy staring up at him; his leaf-green eyes filled with curiosity and uncertainty. Seeing that he had the child's undivided attention, Naruto figured that this was the perfect time to teach the boy his new name.

He pointed a finger at his chest and stated, "Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto then pointed at the boy and declared, "Uzumaki Nanashi." He repeated the process a couple of more times until he spoke the boy's name without pointing and he smiled proudly when the boy hesitantly pointed at himself. Naruto nodded confirmation before praising, "Good job, Nanashi-kun."

"Naruto, are the two of you almost finished in there? Iruka has been brought up to date on what is going on and he is waiting for you in the kitchen," Shizune announced after knocking on the door.

"We'll be out in five minutes, Shizune-chan," Naruto called as he wrapped Nanashi up in a towel and lifted him up out of the tub.

Once he had Nanashi dried and dressed, Naruto scooped the sleepy child up into his arms and carried him towards the kitchen. He was more than a little relieved to find the room far less crowded; Sakura, Inoichi, and Tsunade had taken their leave while Naruto had been supervising Nanashi's bath. He was curious as to why Shikaku and Kakashi had stuck around once they finished explaining things to Iruka but Naruto ignored them in favor of focusing on one of his favorite people.

"Hello, Iruka-sensei," Naruto greeted with a wide grin as he noted the dazed expression in his old teacher's eyes. "Bet you never expected something like this, dattebayo!"

"You can say that again," Iruka agreed as he let out a weak chuckle and let his eyes fall on the boy snuggled contentedly against Naruto's chest. "Is this the child?"

"Hai," Naruto confirmed as he shifted Nanashi around so the kid could see Iruka as he introduced Iruka to the child first in the same way he'd introduced the others. "Nanashi-kun, this is Umino Iruka." As before, he'd repeated Iruka's name a few of times before making certain Nanashi recognized the man's name and face before he finished the introductions, "Iruka-sensei, this is Uzumaki Nanashi."

"It's nice to meet you, Nanashi-kun," Iruka greeted in return as he smiled at the boy and Naruto beamed at his old sensei when the man didn't react negatively to Nanashi's name (unaware that the other adults had warned him not to make a big deal out of the name before explaining Naruto's reasons for giving the child a seemingly cruel name). The twenty-six year old Chuunin then addressed Naruto, "Not that I don't appreciate the trust you've shown in introducing me to your ward and allowing me to know about his abilities but why exactly am I here? The shadow clone you sent to fetch me only told me that you wished to see me."

"I actually wanted to ask for your help, sensei," Naruto confessed as he sat down and set Nanashi on his lap. "Out of everyone I know, you were one of the first people to acknowledge me and make me want to be a better person. And while I know I wasn't the best of students, you taught me a lot; both inside and outside of class. They told you about Nanashi-kun's missing memories, ne?" Iruka nodded. "There's a ton of stuff he's going to need to relearn and while I can teach him some things; I'm the worst person to teach him things like reading, writing, math, and history since I know I'm not very good when it comes to stuff like that. I thought if anyone could teach him what he needed to know, it would be you; because you know all kinds of stuff and you're really good with kids."

"I don't know, Naruto; I already have two jobs*."

"You wouldn't have to spend all day here or anything like that," Naruto pointed out. "Just a couple of hours a week would be more than enough. Even if you could just give me a list of books or scrolls he'd need to get started, it would be a big help. Nanashi-kun isn't a dobe like me; he's intelligent and he picks things up fairly quickly."

"And if the kid doesn't want anything to do with Iruka?" Kakashi inquired without bothering to pull his nose out of the book he was holding in his hand.

"I can't see that happening," Naruto countered without any hesitation. "But I know of only one surefire way to find out."

Rising up out of his chair, Naruto walked around the table and unhesitatingly plopped Nanashi down on Iruka's lap to both Iruka's and Nanashi's surprise. Naruto then took a single step back and watched Nanashi intently as the kid stared up at him with wide green eyes filled with more than a little apprehension until his eyes seemed to take on that ageless quality. Naruto felt his soul being weighed for the briefest of instants before the kid's eyes returned to normal.

The kid then twisted around to stare up at Iruka as the older man glanced downwards and Naruto knew the instant his favorite sensei got caught up in the kid's soul searching gaze. When the moment ended some three minutes later, Nanashi swung back around to watch Naruto but made no attempts to remove himself from Iruka's lap. Naruto then glanced sideways at Kakashi and gave the older man a smug grin.

"See…? What did I tell you?" Naruto softly crowed as he reached out and ruffled Nanashi's hair. "All kids like Iruka; he gives off that 'I am a giant teddy bear' vibe that all kids can recognize from miles away, dattebayo." Three simultaneous snorts of amusement were heard from the other three adults in the room while Iruka huffed and shook his head even as he flashed an affectionate grin at Naruto. Naruto grinned at Iruka in return before he grew serious and added, "The only thing I'm not certain of is how he would respond if I walked out of the room and left him alone with you. I'm not going to test him tonight though; he's had a very long and very stressful day and I don't want to push him too much right now."

"What exactly just happened?" Iruka asked as he continued to stare down at the kid perched on his lap.

"Nanashi weighed your soul and found you acceptable," Naruto explained as he pulled a chair closer and sat down just a few feet away from Iruka and his ward. "I can't really say what it is he does or how he determines what makes a person pass or fail but he won't touch a person or willingly allow them to touch him until he's performed his soul searching technique thingy on them as far as I can tell."

"What happens when someone fails?" Iruka inquired curiously as he shifted Nanashi into a more comfortable position; the kid tensing briefly before he relaxed once more.

"We don't know yet."

"You know it's strange that he's sitting there so calmly with Iruka when he barely tolerates Tsunade, Kitou, or myself coming anywhere near him," Shizune commented as she studied Nanashi.

Naruto thought about that for several minutes before he stated, "All three of you have tried to heal him using a medical jutsu more than once. Inoichi-san said the only memories he has of seeing green chakra are those that involve death and pain. I imagine he's willing to sit with Iruka-sensei because Iruka-sensei hasn't tried to use healing chakra on him. That is probably part of the reason why he's afraid to be left alone in the room with any of you." The teen then turned to face Iruka once more as he asked, "Would you at least be willing to consider tutoring Nanashi-kun a few hours a week?"

"Why didn't you ask Sakura-chan?" Shikaku interjected before Iruka could answer the blond. "She's smart and she's already met the boy."

"She also ticked him off when she tried to hit me," Naruto sighed. "That was the second time he's protected me from another; the first time was when Tsunade-baachan tried to heal my nose after the kid accidentally elbowed me in the face. He healed my nose himself after I'd tried to explain that baachan was just trying to help me."

"Sakura-chan always did have quite the temper," Iruka commented offhandedly. "I suppose a few hours here and there won't tax my already full schedule. I'll bring you some books for Nanashi this weekend, Naruto-kun. I'll also write out a list of supplies you will need to have on hand for his lessons."

"Arigatou, Iruka-sensei! You're the best, dattebayo!"

"Don't thank me yet, Naruto-kun; I fully expect you to participate in those lessons no matter how boring they are. You will also need to spend an hour or two a day reading out loud to him from children's books in order to expand his vocabulary. Picture books would be preferable to start; so he can associate the words with a visual image. All you would need is a small handful of books to start with so you don't overwhelm him with a constant flow of new information. Just focus on one or two stories and add a new book whenever he shows signs of growing bored with a particular story."

"I can do that; it's not much different than pointing things out to him and repeating their names several times until he can remember what each word means."

"Then I will see the two of you on Friday evening for the first lesson," Iruka stated with a smile as he climbed to his feet and transferred Nanashi back to Naruto's lap.

Nanashi blinked up at the scarred Chuunin for a moment before he curled up against Naruto's chest, latched onto Naruto's jacket with one hand, and closed his eyes. Naruto let out a soft sad chuckle and protectively wrapped one arm around the kid to keep him from falling as he ran the fingers of his other hand through the kid's hair. When the teen looked up a minute later, he found all eyes on him and he felt a blush creep up the back of his neck over all of the attention.

"Good night, Iruka-sensei; I'll see you on Friday night. And thank you again for agreeing to help."

"I should be going as well; I have to write up the unit list for the new team," Kakashi stated as he tucked his new book into his utility pouch and headed towards the door in Iruka's wake. As he walked by Naruto and Nanashi, he reached out and ruffled the kid's hair; prompting Nanashi to peer up at the gray haired man with one eye. "Good work this morning, kiddo; it was refreshing to see Naruto-kun so charged up and ready to go first thing in the morning."

"Did you have to bring that up, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto whined as he buried his face against Nanashi's hair to hide his embarrassment.

"I suppose it's a good thing that you didn't know about the picture I took of the prank when I saw you walking through the village before I joined you in the office this morning, ne?"

"Nani!?"

Kakashi left in a puff of smoke two seconds later, leaving behind an indignant Naruto. Shizune smothered a laugh, collected the sleeping Tonton, and reminded Naruto to hook the IV lines up when he put the child to bed before she too said good bye. Two minutes later, Naruto looked up as he climbed to his feet so he could get Nanashi ready for bed only to freeze when he finally noticed that Shikaku was still propped up against his kitchen wall looking as if he'd fallen asleep standing up.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Ano – um/uh  
Arigatou – thank you  
Baka – idiot  
Dobe – idiot/dead last  
Gaki – brat  
Kage Bunshin – shadow clones  
Kodomo – child  
Nanashi – nameless (the same name given to Trowa Barton by the mercenaries that raised him in Gundam Wing)  
Nande – why  
Nani – what  
Ne – used to solicit agreement or confirmation from the listener similar to using 'isn't it?' or 'right?' in English  
Teme – jerk/bastard (also a rude way of saying you)

**Definitions:**

Sensory memory – shortest-term memory: it is the ability to retain impressions of sensory information after the original stimuli is no longer present (scent, sight, smell, taste, and touch). Memories degrade quickly, usually lasting between 1/5 and 1/2 a second.  
Short term memory – working memory (memories last up to one minute): it can be considered the ability to remember and process information at the same time. It is also a necessary step in memory retention (the process of transferring a memory from short term memory into long term memory.  
Long term memory – made up of memories that have been gathered over a person's lifetime: it is made up of both conscious and unconscious memories. Forgetfulness is often attributed to poor recall or rather difficulty in accessing and retrieving specific memories rather than those memories actually being lost (not counting cases where there is brain damage involved).  
Explicit memories – conscious memories (also called declarative memories): is the memory of facts and events and refers to those memories that can be consciously recalled. Explicit memories can be further sub-divided into two groups; episodic memory and semantic memory.  
Episodic memory – memories of experiences and specific events: these are the memories that allow us to reconstruct an actual event that took place at any given point in our lives. This is basically an autobiography of our life involving contextual knowledge (such as times, places, people, and emotions).  
Semantic memory – is a structured record of knowledge: a record of facts, meanings, and concepts that are independent of our personal experiences or the context in which it was acquired. Semantic memories are usually derived from episodic memories.  
Implicit memories – unconscious memories (also called procedural memories): is the unconscious memory of skills and how to do things such as the use of objects or movements of the body (can also be referred to as muscle memory).

**Notes:**

* Iruka's jobs – I see Iruka as having two distinct jobs; teaching classes at the academy and his Chuunin duties (such as manning the mission desk). I suppose both could be considered part of his duties as a Chuunin but I wanted to have a distinction between the two because I see teaching as being far different than distributing missions for teams and not something that just any Chuunin can do.

* Naruto's use of chan when addressing Shizune – Yes, I'm aware that is it unusual for a child (or teen) to use the suffix 'chan' when addressing an adult but Naruto doesn't seem to follow the normal social protocols. I think part of it is the fact that he grew up without anyone to teach him differently, a feeling of indifference towards rules (both spoken and unspoken), and a need to shower the people he care's about with affections.

Hence his use of jijii for Sarutobi, baachan for Tsunade, Ero-Sennin for Jiraiya, chan for other girls/women he's friendly with, and sensei for the two adults he's used as role models (Kakashi and Iruka). I'll have him use the appropriate honorifics at times throughout the story, usually for those adults that he is more than a little uncertain about or those that he never really interacted with before.

* * *

**AN:** _Wow, I've been trying to work the memory sequence scene into the story since the first chapter, so that I could give Harry a name but it kept getting pushed back another chapter and I had feared I would never get it in. But there it is (finally) and now you know one of the reasons that Harry/Nanashi is behaving the way he is and why he hasn't been talking. We also saw a glimpse of Naruto's unique ability to connect to people in the logic he used to name Harry as well as his willingness to accept his own faults and limitations.  
_

_For those who didn't figure it out, the people that Inoichi saw in Harry's remaining memories are (in order as listed by Inoichi and the timing of their deaths); Lily (Evans) Potter, Voldemort possessed Quirrell, Cedric Diggory, Sirius Black, Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape, Voldemort, Ginny (Weasley) Potter, James S. Potter, Albus S. Potter, Lily L. Potter, and Teddy Lupin. All of the deaths (bar Ginny's and the children's deaths) can be considered canon (IE: I didn't change the circumstances in which those characters died – Quirrell's death being taken from the movie-verse while the others are all from the books)._

_The three times that Harry was seen being hit with the Killing Curse were on the night his parents died, in the forest during the Battle of Hogwarts, and during the confrontation that ended up with Ginny and the children dying. The first two are canon, of course, while the last one is not. _

_I should also note that the 'pain' in Harry/Nanashi's memories during the moments when he was hit with the killing curse was entirely fabricated by me. I know the Killing Curse is supposed to be painless while inspiring sheer terror in the victims but I have trouble believing that there wouldn't be some pain involved in a 'backfired' curse. I mean, if the curse isn't actually killing Harry, then it had to do something since all of that energy didn't just disappear. ~ Jenn_


	6. Emergency Deployment

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _Mentions of character death, angst and drama, mild to moderate violence, mature content (foul language & mentions of alcohol), and AU._ _Child!Harry, Powerful!Harry, Intelligent!Harry, NOTstupid!Naruto, Powerful!Naruto, and Protective!Naruto. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 5: Emergency Deployment**

_August 08, 1986, Evening  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

"Ano… Shikaku-san…? Shouldn't you have gone home already?"

"Yes, I should have left hours ago and it will be exceedingly troublesome explaining my tardiness to my wife," Shikaku drawled lazily as he opened his eyes, tucked his hands in his pockets, and pushed away from the wall. "However, I wanted to speak with you before I left. I'll also admit to wanting a chance to get a closer look at your ward without any distractions."

"What did you want to talk about?"

"Nanashi; specifically, what you plan to do with the child while you are away on missions."

"I haven't figured that out yet but I know I need to get him used to the idea of me being gone for days at a time."

"Would you be willing to allow me to watch over him when you are sent out of the village?"

"Nande?"

"He reminds me of you, when you were younger, and I would like to do for him what I was not allowed to do for you for reasons that I can not speak of," Shikaku admitted softly as he stopped beside Naruto and reached out to brush Nanashi's hair out of his face. "It is also exceedingly rare for me to leave the village these days; meaning that there is nothing preventing me from keeping an eye him whenever you need me to. The Nara Estate is large enough that he would have plenty of room to run around and explore without worrying about him drawing the wrong kind of attention or growing antsy from being cooped up inside of your apartment all of the time. My clan is also a small clan; so there are only a few of us living on the estate with most of the family living at our research center outside of the village and each of them can be trusted to keep Nanashi's presence a secret."

"I suppose that would be alright; if you are certain you don't mind and providing you pass inspection," Naruto conceded after considering the offer for another couple of minutes as he absently noted that the child in his arms had surprisingly not stirred or flinched at Shikaku's touch.

"Fair enough; and I would not have offered if I had not meant it. If Nanashi-kun is still awake, I can let him test me now or I can come back tomorrow evening if you think he is too tired."

"We can try tonight," Naruto stated as he reached up to gently peel Nanashi's hand off of his jacket before he passed the boy over to Shikaku.

Shikaku expertly turned Nanashi so that he was cradled in one of the man's arms and half propped on his left hip so that the two of them could see each other clearly. Nanashi yawned and glanced up at the man in disinterest before turning to pout at Naruto. Shikaku hummed softly and reached up with his free hand to tap the kid on the nose to draw the kid's attention back to him.

Nanashi let out a Nara worthy sigh that drew a soft chuckle from the forty year old holding him before he obligingly glanced up at the older man's face briefly before dropping his gaze once more. The kid then did something completely unexpected; he leaned forward and stared intently at the deer skin vest that Shikaku was wearing before he curled up against the man. His little hand then began petting the coat as if it was a living animal.

"Huh," Naruto mused thoughtfully as a smirk crept across his face. "I never pegged you as being a bigger teddy bear than Iruka-sensei, Shikaku-san. Although I'm more than a little confused as to why he didn't see the need to test you like he did with the others that have gotten too close to him."

"If his soul weighing technique draws upon his Kekkei Genkai, then it is possible that he is simply too tired to use it again right now," Shikaku theorized as he studied the child in his arms. "As you said earlier, he's had a rather long, stressful day and I would suspect that healing Kakashi's Sharingan eye probably took quite a bit out of him."

"You think maybe he's suffering from something like chakra exhaustion?"

"Precisely," Shikaku agreed. "That is something you are going to need to monitor closely due to the fact that we have no way to know how large of a reservoir he has to draw on nor do we have a way to monitor his reserve levels and cases of severe exhaustion can be fatal; especially in one so young. You should ask Kitou-san to teach you the most common signs of chakra exhaustion and use those as a basis for gauging Nanashi-kun's health each time he uses his ability."

"Are there exercises I can teach him to help him increase his stamina? I've never had to worry about increasing my own stamina so I never bothered to pay attention to those lessons. I'll need to teach him physical strengthening exercises too."

"I can help you teach him the basic exercises to improve his physical condition but I do not know if the chakra exercises that are used to increase control and stamina will be of any use to him since he does not have chakra. Those may even do him more harm than good though because we don't really know anything about how his Kekkei Genkai works."

"I never realized taking care of a kid could be so much work," Naruto sighed as he sat back down into his chair and dropped his head back so that it was hanging half over the back of the chair as he stared up at the ceiling.

"Raising a child is one of the most difficult missions a person could accept; taking responsibility for another's life and wellbeing is no easy job. It is also one of the most rewarding jobs. You have it easy in some ways; you don't have to worry about diapers, potty training, and an endless chain of sleepless nights raising an infant. On the other hand, you are facing a far more difficult job because your ward is nearly as helpless as any newborn due to the extent of the damage done to his memories and you have to deal with all of his insecurities."

Shikaku then paused for a moment as he waited for Naruto to lift his head and meet his eyes, "Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it. You are not expected to get through this alone; that you accepted the responsibility of the child when you yourself are just barely out of childhood is commendable but don't let your pride affect your judgment when it comes to needing advice or money. Tsunade-sama, Inoichi, Shizune, Kakashi, and myself are all more than willing to help you in any way we can; as will Iruka, I'm sure."

"Wakatta, Shikaku-san."

"Good. I'll get out of your hair now and let the two of you get some rest. I'll see you tomorrow evening."

"Jaamata ashita," Naruto automatically replied as he collected Nanashi before showing Shikaku out so he could lock up the front door.

* * *

_September 21, 1986, Early Morning  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Naruto tried not to allow the worry he felt to show as he packed an overnight bag for Nanashi. He'd been preparing his ward for this day for well over a month and he still wasn't certain the kid was ready. Naruto wasn't entirely certain he was ready either but he couldn't just keep putting it off. Zipping up the old backpack that he'd dug out of his closet for Nanashi to use, Naruto glanced sideways to study his ward.

The boy was currently laying on the floor diligently practicing his kanji with a look of concentration and borderline frustration on his face as he meticulously formed each symbol. The sight made Naruto smile because it reminded him of his own dislike for practicing kanji; though Naruto never put anywhere near as much effort into practicing as Nanashi did. True to his prediction, the kid had taken to Iruka's tutoring lessons like a duck to water; drinking in the lessons like a man dying of thirst drinks water. His understanding of spoken Japanese had grown exponentially with each lesson, though the kid still had not spoken a single word.

He'd had more than a little trouble reading and writing in the beginning due to an unconscious habit he had of trying to read (and write) from left to right in rows rather than reading from right to left in columns*. It had taken over a week of reading the same story book to the kid twice a day before he'd managed to break the kid of that strange habit; Naruto diligently guiding the kid's finger down the columns in the book as he spoke the words aloud upon Iruka's suggestions. Those lessons had also unexpectedly helped Naruto as he slowly grew more confident and comfortable reading aloud to the child and he slowly began stumbling less and less over the words.

Once Nanashi had grasped a well enough understanding of the language to consistently follow spoken directions, Iruka had introduced the kid to other subjects; such as math, science, and history. Nanashi steadily worked his way through them though he did have some trouble with the history lessons and often fell asleep during Iruka's long-winded lectures (something that amused Naruto because he'd slept through the same lectures more times than he could remember). The only subject that had completely baffled the kid in the beginning was art. The first time Naruto had handed Nanashi a box of crayons and a stack of blank paper the kid had blinked at the crayons and paper before glancing up at Naruto with a look of utter confusion on his face.

Naruto had thoroughly enjoyed teaching his ward how to draw; art had always been one of Naruto's favorite subjects (right next to pranking). The teen would purposefully draw the most outrageous picture that he could think of in order to get Nanashi to laugh while encouraging the kid to do the same. Introducing Nanashi to the concept of finger painting had gone even better and Naruto still hadn't gotten all of the paint off the ceiling from the paint war the two of them had gotten into that day. The kid's more mischievous side had made another appearance that day; the gaki had attacked his hair with paint covered fingers after Naruto had dabbed his nose with a blot of red paint.

The picture that Iruka had taken of the two of them covered from head to toe in a rainbow of paint had been framed and was currently hanging up on the wall beside their bed.

Getting Nanashi to willingly spend time apart from Naruto, on the other hand, had been nothing but one continuous uphill battle. And while Nanashi honestly seemed to like Shikaku, almost as much as he liked Naruto, the kid didn't like being left behind when Naruto went out on missions. In the beginning, Shikaku had come over to Naruto's apartment and watched Nanashi for an hour or two at a time while Naruto trained with Kakashi and Sakura or the three of them took a couple of the higher D Ranked missions about the village. The boring chores were annoying but Naruto bit his tongue and suffered through them willingly enough because it meant he didn't have to leave the village.

After the first three weeks, Naruto had started taking Nanashi over to the Nara Estate; Shunshining the two of them across town in order to avoid being seen walking through the village with his ward. Nanashi's eyes had lit up with pure pleasure the moment he got his first good look at the Nara Estate with its extensive grounds, manmade ponds, rambling gardens, airy forests, and resident wildlife. The moment the kid had seen one of the deer drinking from a pond, he had squirmed down out of Naruto's arms and dashed towards the magnificent stag.

Shikaku, who'd been waiting for them on the porch, had been quick to snag the kid in a shadow bind to prevent him from getting too close to the creature (the Nara deer were well known for having little tolerance for anyone that was not a Nara). Nanashi didn't even appear to notice when his body stopped moving; he only had eyes for the large stag towering over him. Shikaku didn't release him until Naruto had reached him and scooped him up into his arms while taking care not to spook the deer. The older man had later introduced Nanashi to the deer (keeping a tight hold on the kid to keep him from getting loose) and Naruto had watched the six year old cuddle up to the stag as if it was a giant stuffed animal.

Nanashi loved spending time at the Nara Estate (because of the gardens and the deer) but he disliked it each time Naruto left without him. He didn't actually panic or lock himself inside of the nearest closet but he would withdraw and ignore everyone else the moment Naruto left according to the reports Shikaku had given the teen each time he returned to collect the kid. Over the course of the next three weeks, Shikaku and Naruto had worked on getting Nanashi used to going longer and longer periods of time away from Naruto. The kid still became clingy the moment Naruto returned; regardless of how long the teen had been away – even if he'd just stepped into the other room for a few minutes (unless the two of them were at home).

Despite the fact that Nanashi still didn't cope well with being left behind, Naruto couldn't take the kid with him and he couldn't keep putting off taking the higher ranked missions that Tsunade wished to send him on. Challenging missions that Naruto was looking forward to taking because he was absolutely sick of performing mind numbing chores. In fact, Tsunade had already informed him that Team Kakashi would be assigned an escort mission that was expected to last for at least a week; hence the reason why he was packing an overnight bag for Nanashi (as the kid would be staying with the Nara Clan while Naruto was out of the village).

The fact that he was looking forward to getting out of the village for a while made him feel guilty because it felt as if he was abandoning Nanashi. It wasn't that he didn't want to be around the kid; he liked Nanashi. However, he couldn't live out the rest of his life trudging about the village pulling weeds, walking dogs, and cleaning up training grounds; he'd worked and trained too hard to become a shinobi to spend the rest of his life doing nothing but D Ranked missions. It was those inner conflicts, along with the worry about how Nanashi would handle spending at least seven days without him around, that Naruto was trying to hide from the kid. He didn't want the kid to be on edge before he even left.

"Alright, Nanashi-kun, time to put away your things and get ready to go; I'm taking you to see the deer again," Naruto instructed as he shouldered his pack and passed the kid his so he could pack up his school things.

Ten minutes later, the two of them appeared in the middle of the Nara Estate in a swirl of leaves. Nanashi giggled from his perch on Naruto's shoulders and tightened his hold on Naruto's hair; the kid enjoyed the rushing wind and feeling of flying that always accompanied the transportation technique. Naruto reached up and poked the kid, drawing forth another giggle as the kid loosened his near painful grip on Naruto's blond hair.

"Mendoukusei, it's too early in the morning to be so bright and cheerful," a lazy voice complained.

"Ohayou, Shikamaru!" Naruto greeted in return as he turned around to smile at his fellow teen as the other boy stepped down out of his house. "What are you doing out and about before noon?"

"Ohayou, Naruto and Naruto's shadow," Shikamaru greeted in return as he paused beside Naruto just long enough to poke Nanashi in the side; soliciting another giggle from the kid. "Temari is heading back to Sunagakure this morning. It's a pain but I was assigned to be her escort while she was here in the village and the least I can do is see her on her way."

"Good luck with that," Naruto replied with a chuckle. "Though, if you're going to give her a kiss goodbye, you might want to make certain you do it well out of sight of the gate as Kotetsu and Izumo are both on duty this morning and they are two of the biggest gossips in the village; if you don't count Ino."

"Tch, whatever," Shikamaru groused as he slouched down, averted his face to hide the light blush that dusted his cheeks, and continued on his way. "I'll see you later."

Naruto chuckled again as he watched his friend slink out of the estate; his thoughts going back to the day he'd introduced Nanashi to the lazy genius. The blond wasn't sure what shocked his fellow teen more; the fact that Naruto was the kid's guardian or the fact that his father had been cuddling with said child at the time. The young genius had also been far more shaken by Nanashi's soul searching than anyone else had been so far; it had taken Shikamaru days to stop staring at Nanashi in wary confusion each time they crossed paths.

"You seem to be in a fine mood this morning, Naruto-kun," Shikaku declared as he stepped outside looking for the pair. "Good morning, Nanashi-kun; would you like to help me feed the deer this morning?"

"It's just amusing to see Shikamaru get all flustered," Naruto stated conspiratorially as he lifted the now squirming six year old down off his shoulders. "How long do you think he will mope around now that Temari-chan is leaving? I wish I could stick around for a couple of days just to tease him a bit about it."

Shikaku snorted and shook his head as he held his hand out to Nanashi who had scrambled across the distance separating him from the older man; the kid eager to visit the deer. Naruto flashed the man an unrepentant grin and impishly saluted the Jounin before he called out, "Nanashi-kun, I want you to behave yourself for Shikaku-san. I'll see you as soon as I finish my mission."

Naruto waited just long enough for the kid to give him a reluctant nod before he Shunshined to an alley not far away from the Hokage's Tower. He stared off in the direction of the Nara Estate for a long minute, a large part of him feeling terribly guilty as he recalled the look of hurt and fear that had filled Nanashi's eyes the moment he'd said his goodbyes to the kid (something he felt every time he said goodbye to the child). Sighing, Naruto let his shoulders slump as he headed for the Mission Assignment Room in order to meet the rest of his team and collect their mission orders.

Sakura fell into step beside him a few minutes later, and Naruto gave her a halfhearted smile in response to her cheerful greeting. They were just crossing the threshold of the Hokage Tower when Kakashi appeared behind them in a swirl of leaves and both teens blinked at the Jounin in confusion. Sakura even went so far as to try dispelling a genjutsu thinking that someone was trying to get one over on the two of them.

"You think maybe he might be sick, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked in concern as he scrunched up his face and studied Kakashi intently. "He does look a little paler than normal."

"I'm not even sure it really is Kakashi-sensei; doesn't the color of his hair look a little darker than normal? You don't suppose it's actually a spy under a henge, do you?" Sakura countered in return as she pulled on her gloves and flexed her fists as she too eyed Kakashi.

"Maa, maa; what's got the two of you acting so suspicious this morning?" Kakashi inquired as he raised his arms in the universal gesture for 'I mean you no harm, please don't attack!'.

"You're not only on time for the first time ever but you are at least ten minutes early," Naruto explained as he scrunched up his face and eyed Kakashi carefully. "The Kakashi I know is well known for being late to everything; including the Sandaime's funeral. Dattebayo!"

"I've been feeling a bit restricted and the idea of getting out of the village is appealing," Kakashi confessed as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

"Gomen," Naruto murmured lowly as his shoulders slumped even further; guilt over having held his teammates back mingling with the guilt he felt over leaving Nanashi and the fact that he'd been feeling somewhat happy about having a chance to get out of the village as well.

"Maa, maa; you've got nothing to apologize for," Kakashi assured Naruto as he draped an arm over the teen's shoulders and steered him into the tower. "You were only doing what was best and I completely understand. Still; nothing wrong with wanting to get out and get a little action every now and then, ne?"

Naruto huffed and rolled his eyes even as he gave the man a small grin in response. The three of them strolled into the Mission Assignment Room a couple minutes later and stood in the back as Tsunade assigned a D Ranked mission to a young Genin team. The three of them were just stepping up to the desk to get their mission when a frantic Chuunin from the cipher division burst into the room.

"Hokage-sama! We've just received an emergency request from Suna," the young woman blurted out as she hurried across the room and passed the message to the Hokage.

"An emergency…? Suna…?" Naruto parroted as he shrugged off Kakashi's arm and stepped closer to the mission desk; his thoughts immediately going to Gaara (his friend and fellow Jinchuuriki had been named as the Godaime Kazekage earlier that year – something one of Jiraiya's contacts had passed on to the pair a couple of months before the Sannin had brought Naruto back to the village).

"Chikushou," Tsunade hissed as she rapidly skimmed through the message.

"What…? What happened?" Naruto demanded as Shizune swore under her breath a minute later as she read the missive from over the Hokage's shoulder.

"Suna was attacked by two members of the Akatsuki organization early yesterday evening," Tsunade grimly announced as she slapped the message down onto the desk. "The Kazekage was kidnapped by his attacker after protecting the village from a large scale explosion that would have decimated the entire village."

"Gaara," Naruto growled in a voice tinged with both worry and anger; his mind playing out the one encounter he'd had with the Akatsuki while he'd been searching for Tsunade with Jiraiya after the disastrous end of the Chuunin Exams and the rumors he'd helped Jiraiya collect during the two years that he'd traveled with the pervert.

"Suna has asked for our help in tracking down the ones responsible due to the fact that we have a considerable amount of information on the Akatsuki organization. Help that I fully intend to provide."

"Tsunade-sama, please tell me that you aren't thinking of sending Team Kakashi…?" Shizune half demanded and half pleaded to Naruto's surprise since he couldn't recall Tsunade actually saying anything about their team. "Don't you think that would be too reckless to send Naruto after the Akatsuki?"

"There is no better team to send," Tsunade countered swiftly. "Kakashi has fought against members of the Akatsuki in the past and Naruto learned a considerable amount about the organization from Jiraiya over the past two years."

"But still…"

"Enough, we don't have time to argue right now. Team Kakashi; I am assigning you an urgent priority mission. You are to immediately head to Sunagakure in order to determine our ally's current state of affairs and report back to me. After that, you will work with the Suna Shinobi in their efforts to discover where the Akatsuki has taken the Kazekage and provide back up in the event that they mount at rescue mission. I will send Team Gai to you as back-up as soon as I can have all four members assembled."

"Hai!" all three shinobi called out at once as they saluted the Hokage.

As one, the three of them turned towards the door and started out, only for Naruto to hesitate at the last second as he glanced back over his shoulder and requested, "Tsunade-baachan, I was supposed to meet with Shikaku when I got back from the original mission that you were going to assign to us; will you please let him know that I will most likely be gone longer than expected? He has a key to my apartment if he needs anything before I get back."

"I will see to it he gets the message, Naruto-kun."

Naruto nodded and hurried after his teammates. As he trotted through the village, Naruto let his thoughts wander to his ward; he was still concerned how his extended absence would affect Nanashi but he was no longer feeling as guilty as he had been earlier. He couldn't feel guilty about going to Suna in order to help Gaara; his friend had worked hard to gain the recognition of his village and the rank of Kazekage and Naruto refused to allow anyone to take that away from his fellow Jinchuuriki. He'd just have to make it up to the gaki when he got back.

The trio was just exiting the village through the main gate when they ran into Jiraiya who called out to them, "Where are the three of you off to in such a hurry?"

"Suna… to help Gaara," Naruto replied as he jogged right by the Sennin without stopping.

"Nani!?"

"There's been an emergency and Suna requested our aide," Kakashi explained as he paused beside the older shinobi.

Naruto heard Jiraiya mutter something under his breath but he was too far away to catch what he said. He wasn't really all that interested in knowing at any rate; he was far more interested in getting to Suna as fast as humanly possible.

"Naruto, wait up a minute!" Jiraiya ordered a few minutes later after holding a short whispered conversation with Kakashi.

Naruto reluctantly stopped in his tracks and half turned back towards his teacher, impatience clearly written all over his face as he demanded, "Nani?"

Jiraiya walked up to him, pulled him a little further away from the others, leaned close, and softly instructed, "I know that you are upset right now and that you are worried about your friend but you need to be careful out there. Don't get reckless and don't take any needless chances; you have a very special little boy counting on you to return home to him in one piece. Whatever you do, don't pull on the power from the other guy and for kami's sake use your head before you go after any of the Akatsuki! They aren't to be trifled with."

"Wakatta, Ero-Sennin," Naruto promised tightly before he glanced back towards his teammates and called out, "Hurry up you two; we have to help Gaara!"

"Keep your shirt on, Naruto, we'll get there as fast as we can," Kakashi promised as he and Sakura both caught up to the fifteen year old as he began jogging along the road once more while Jiraiya continued on into Konoha. "We'll need to moderate our pace though or otherwise we'll be of no use once we reach Suna."

Naruto grunted but said nothing as the three of them took to the trees in order to have a better view of the road both in front of and behind them and to avoid any civilians that were on the road. As he ran, his thoughts continuously flickered between Nanashi and Gaara; his worry for both his ward and his friend eating away at him. After a while, he began wondering what Nanashi would make of the Sand Siblings and how Gaara, or better yet Kankurou, would react to being tested by the child.

Under normal circumstances, the long hours of silence that surrounded the three shinobi would have driven Naruto up a wall but he was far too preoccupied to even notice. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't even notice the kunoichi meandering in the same direction they were traveling along the road below him. Kakashi and Sakura, however, did notice the kunoichi and the Jounin had had to call out to Naruto several times before he finally stopped and glanced back to find out what Kakashi wanted. When he turned around, he found the man standing down on the road with Sakura next to a confused Temari and Naruto felt his insides tighten as he realized that Temari probably had no idea that Suna had been attacked or that Gaara had been kidnapped.

Naruto didn't bother dropping down out of the trees to join them as he waited; he simply crouched down and waited for Kakashi to be ready to move out once more. He stared off towards Suna as he kept one ear out for any indication that the others were on the move again while in his mind he kept praying for Gaara to hold on. After a moment, he glanced back towards Konoha as his earlier concern for his charge flitted through his mind when he recalled the hurt and fear that had radiated from Nanashi's eyes the moment he'd said goodbye to the kid (it was a look Naruto was intimately familiar with since the kid wore it each time he left him behind).

Sighing, Naruto took his worry for his ward and bundled it up tight ball before he shoved it to the back of his mind so he could focus on the mission; he couldn't afford to be distracted, he had to help Gaara.

Two minutes later, the four of them were on the move again; Temari had decided to travel with them to help guide them across the desert so that they didn't get lost (the three Konoha shinobi not quite as familiar with the desert as the kunoichi). Sakura and Temari carried on a soft conversation throughout the afternoon but Naruto was too far out in front to actually hear what they were saying. Every twenty minutes or so, the pink haired kunoichi would call out for him to slow down and keep pace with them but Naruto couldn't help but feel impatient with the seemingly relaxed pace that Kakashi tried to keep them to.

When they stopped and made camp for the night, Naruto couldn't sit still. He was torn between his driving need to keep going, knowing that every second counted and that Gaara needed him, and his returning worry over how Nanashi was taking the revelation that he had not returned to collect him at sunset like he usually did. Like a caged beast, Naruto paced back and forth, torn between duties as he fought to concentrate on his mission without letting his anger and frustration get the better of him until Kakashi ordered him to get some sleep.

Morning couldn't come fast enough for Naruto and when the sky finally did start to lighten, the others couldn't move fast enough to satisfy the part of Naruto that kept urging him to hurry up. Over the course of the day, his irritation continued to grow as he continued to dwell on Gaara's predicament while his ever present worry over how Nanashi-kun had reacted to spending the night without him hovered at the back of his mind despite his best efforts to focus on the mission. His impatience constantly pushed the others to increase their pace in order to keep up with him each time his emotions drove him to speed up.

It would be another long day of travel for the quartet and they would reach the border between Kaze no Kuni and Kawa no Kuni in the early afternoon; at which time Temari took the lead since she was more familiar with the terrain.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Chikushou – damn  
Gaki – brat  
Gomen – I'm sorry  
Hai – yes  
Jaamata ashita – see you tomorrow  
Kawa no Kuni – River Country (one of the countries that is a buffer between Find and Wind Country)  
Kaze no Kuni – Wind Country  
Kekkei Genkai – bloodline limit  
Maa, maa – now, now or there, there (a phrase used to placate someone)  
Mendoukusei – how troublesome, this sucks, or what a drag  
Nande – why  
Nani – what  
Ne – used to solicit agreement or confirmation from the listener similar to using 'isn't it?' or 'right?' in English  
Ohayou – good morning  
Wakatta – I understand/understood

**Notes:**

* This sentence refers to the traditional format used when writing/reading Japanese called tategaki which from what I understand was inspired by the traditional Chinese system. In this format, the characters are written in columns going from top to bottom, with columns ordered from right to left. After reaching the bottom of each column, the reader continues at the top of the column to the left of the current one. Modern Japanese uses the yokogaki format which is written/read from left to right in rows like English.

* * *

**AN:** _And things will start picking up from this point forward as the Shippuden timeline kicks in full force. That means you can also expect to start seeing the ripples of change caused by Harry/Nanashi's presence. Next chapter will be up in two or three days. As always, thank you so much for taking the time to read, all of the favorites, alerts, and reviews were much appreciated and I will try to set aside some more time to respond to the reviews soon; as soon as I can find some time to spare. ~ Jenn_


	7. Stubborn is as Stubborn Does

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _Mentions of character death, angst and drama, mild to moderate violence, mature content (foul language & mentions of alcohol), and AU._ _Child!Harry, Powerful!Harry, Intelligent!Harry, NOTstupid!Naruto, Powerful!Naruto, and Protective!Naruto. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 6: Stubborn is as Stubborn Does**

_September 22, 1986, Late Afternoon/All Night  
Sunagakure no Sato, Kaze no Kuni_

Naruto scowled at the mouth of the small cave they were huddled inside; the teen glaring at the veritable wall of rushing sand that blocked out the world outside. Their small group had been caught up in a violent sandstorm that had cropped up from out of nowhere just a few hours after crossing into Kaze no Kuni and the four of them had been forced to take shelter inside of the nearest cave least they get lost in the storm. It was galling to be so close to his destination and at the same time so far away simply because nature was having a momentary fit in the middle of the desert.

The delay irritated Naruto more than anything else because not only would it take him longer to find out how he could help his friend, it also meant that it would take him even longer to return home to Nanashi. Huffing in irritation, Naruto began pacing back and forth in front of the opening of their cave-like shelter while the others watched him with varying degrees of exasperation, pity, and understanding. Naruto ignored his companions and their looks in favor of trying to regain control of his emotions (like Jiraiya had taught him) before he blew up like an exploding tag due to the building frustration.

"Naruto, sit down before you dig a hole in the ground with your pacing," Kakashi ordered after another ten minutes had passed. "Wearing yourself out needlessly isn't going to make the storm blow itself out any faster."

"I can't… I feel so useless right now because we're just sitting here and while I know it's not safe out there for us to keep going, just sitting here is driving me crazy."

"Why don't you try meditating for a while, it should help you center your emotions," Kakashi pointedly suggested with one of his infamous eye smiles.

Naruto wrinkled his nose in distaste but complied with the politely worded order as he took a seat just a few feet away from the entrance to their shelter and closed his eyes. He was just starting to relax when the air inside of the cave became heavy and charged; a rapidly building thunder storm that was centered within their refuge. Naruto felt a knot of dread form in his stomach as he spun around and rose up onto his knees to face the source of the disturbance. Kakashi, Temari, and Sakura all gave him confused and concerned looks (as if they couldn't feel what he felt) but Naruto paid them no mind.

A small spike of electricity heralded a burst of bright gold light followed by a loud crack. All four shinobi cursed and threw their arms over their eyes in order to avoid being blinded by the light. A moment later, the light was gone and Naruto was the first one to drop his arm as he formed a pair of shadow clones and sent them forward to identify the small form that had appeared in the center of the cave as whoever it was dropped to their knees with a small, pained grunt.

"Nanashi-kun!?" Naruto gasped in shock as he immediately recognized his ward's face in the dim light of the flare that one of his clones had lit to compensate for the ruination of their night vision in the wake of the brief blast of light. He shook off the shock a moment later as he scrambled forward to make certain the child had not been harmed; growling slightly when he noticed the blood trickling from the scar on his forehead and that the kid was burning up with a fever.

As he dismissed the clones and pulled the dazed kid into his lap, Naruto demanded, "What are you doing here kid? How the hell did you get here? Did you hit your head on something? Is that why you're bleeding? Did you get sick after I left? Chikushou, you're fever is nearly as bad as it was that first night I found you! And why, oh why, are you here, Nanashi? Don't you know it's not safe for you here?"

Turbulent, fever glazed green eyes glanced up to meet confused and concerned blue eyes for a long moment before the kid shook his head and burrowed into Naruto's belly as his small hands latched onto Naruto's jacket; Nanashi's entire body trembling. Naruto stared down at him for several minutes before he glanced up towards Kakashi as he tentatively asked, "Kakashi-sensei, what am I supposed…?"

"We'll have to keep him with us until we reach Suna," Kakashi replied as he moved to Naruto's side to inspect their unexpected guest; the older man checking the kid's temperature before passing Naruto his canteen. "We don't have time to take him back and he's too young to send off on his own. I also wouldn't want to risk him ending up in the middle of some other village if we tried to convince him to use the same technique to return home. We'll let Tsunade know he ended up here with us and ask her to send someone to collect him. In the mean time, see if you can get him to drink some water in order to bring his temperature down."

"Who exactly is he?" Temari asked curiously as she glanced between the kid and the three Konoha shinobi. "And how did he find us out here in the middle of the desert?"

Naruto didn't answer right away as he gently coaxed Nanashi into sitting up to drink, silently weighing his options as he focused on the trembling body clinging to him for dear life. He knew that he could end up in big trouble with Tsunade if he said too much and he also knew that Temari was intelligent and persistent enough to dig up information on her own should he not answer her at all. There was also the fact that the Suna kunoichi had just witnessed Nanashi appearing in the middle of their shelter quite unexpectedly and with little to no warning. Sighing, Naruto set the untouched bottle of water down before he brushed his fingers through his ward's hair as he glanced up to meet Temari's gaze.

"Before we answer your questions; can you give us your word that you will not speak to another regarding the child's existence and abilities?" Kakashi asked in as he half turned to meet the young woman's gaze as well.

"I won't keep secrets from my brothers but I can promise that I will not speak of the child to another outside of my family," Temari offered without any hesitation.

"That is acceptable," Kakashi agreed with another eye smile.

"Can you sit up for me, kid? There is someone I'd like to introduce you to," Naruto murmured to the overly warm bundle curled up in his lap. The kid slowly complied, reluctantly peeling himself away from Naruto's stomach even as his hands tightened their grip on his jacket; as if he feared he'd be taken or sent away. Once the kid was sitting up and no longer hiding his face, Naruto reclaimed the canteen and held it up so Nanashi could take a drink as he inspected the kid's forehead to make sure that the scar wasn't still bleeding.

After watching Nanashi take a few sips, he lowered the canteen and turned so that the kid could see Temari's face and stated, "Nanashi-kun this is Amakaze Temari. Temari-chan this is my ward; Uzumaki Nanashi."

"Hello, Nanashi-kun; it's nice to meet you," Temari greeted with a smile before she glanced back up at Naruto and inquired, "How exactly did you end up as the child's guardian? I mean, aren't you a little young to be taking care of a kid? And why you? Surely it would have been better for an adult to take care of him or to have him sent to an orphanage since you there is a high chance that you'd be constantly sent out of the village on missions. And who in the world gave him such a cruel name?"

"It's a long story but basically I rescued him from a stray dog and he sort of attached himself to me. There were other people willing to take him in but he refused to have anything to do with anyone else. He'll tolerate spending time at the Nara Estate because he loves the deer but he's never happy when I have to leave him behind. And I named him when we learned he didn't remember his name but I didn't give him that name to be mean. I just needed something to call him until he remembered who he was."

"That doesn't explain how he managed to find us out here in the middle of nowhere during a sandstorm."

"I don't know how he did it," Naruto honestly admitted as he shifted Nanashi into a more comfortable position and offered him another drink of water. "And it's hard to say whether or not he'd know what happened and even if he did I don't think he'd tell me because he's not spoken a single word since I found him; so asking him is kind of pointless. Kakashi-sensei, do you know how he might have found us?"

"If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say he used a transportation jutsu paired with some kind of tracking jutsu or maybe a homing jutsu to travel to your side. We may never know for certain."

"Do you think it's something he'd be able to do again?" Sakura inquired as she inched closer; the pink haired kunoichi looking as if her hands were itching to scan the kid (she was a medic in training, after all).

Naruto paled at the implications of that question as he softly exclaimed, "How am I supposed to keep him safe if he can find me like that no matter where I am? What if he pops up while I'm in the middle of a battle? He could be seriously injured or worse, killed!"

"That's something we can worry about later," Kakashi stated as he glanced towards the mouth of the rock shelter they'd taken refuge in. "The storm has blown itself out already and we need to get moving."

Naruto didn't need to be told twice and he passed the canteen back to Kakashi before he climbed to his feet and shifted a reluctant Nanashi around to his back so that his hands would be free in the event that he needed to protect himself and the kid. At least he wouldn't have to worry about Nanashi falling off; the kid was clinging to him with the single-minded tenacity of a limpet or a leech. One could easily mistake the boy as being part of Naruto's uniform due to the fact that he was currently wearing one of Naruto's old orange and blue tracksuits for some reason (and practically swimming in said suit).

The sun had long since set during the storm but there was more than enough moonlight to light their way as they ghosted through the night over the shifting grains of sand. As he ran, Naruto couldn't help but worry about Nanashi's health as the heat of the kid's fever beat steadily against his back. He also wondered what he was going to do about the latest ability his ward had demonstrated; self transportation. It was, in the teen's mind, the best and worst ability the kid could have. It was the best because it meant he'd one day be able to move about quickly and could use it to escape from an attack and it was the worst because it meant that there was no keeping the kid in one place if he didn't wish to stay.

It would take them all night to reach Suna; the stone walls of the hidden village finally coming into sight as sunlight began washing across the desert as it crested the horizon. Relief and dread filled Naruto; he'd finally reached his first destination which meant that he was one step closer to getting Gaara back. It also meant that he'd have to leave Nanashi behind a second time and trust the kid would stay put and wait for an escort from Konoha to arrive in order to retrieve him. Naruto's face was set in a grim line due to his dark thoughts when they were greeted by a pair of Suna Chuunin at the entrance to the canyon that led into the village.

Learning that Kankurou had been poisoned while trying to track the ones responsible (both for the attack and for the kidnapping) turned Naruto's dark mood even darker. Sakura took charge at that point; demanding that they immediately be taken straight to Kankurou so she could try to heal him. Safe inside the village, Naruto brought Nanashi around in order to try and talk some sense into the kid (hoping to impress upon him the need to return to Konoha) only to find that the boy had fallen asleep at some point. That of course had Naruto worrying about the possibility that transporting himself from Konoha to Suna had seriously exhausted the kid on top of whatever it was that was making him sick.

It didn't take them long to make their way to the hospital and Naruto didn't hesitate to follow Sakura and Temari into the emergency room where Kankurou was being treated with Kakashi following along behind. He'd barely gotten a single glimpse of a terribly pale Kankurou when an old woman screeched out death threats as she attacked while ranting about a white fang. Naruto thought she was attacking him, not realizing she was actually attempting to attack Kakashi, and he felt a spike of pure anger at the nerve of the woman daring to attack him while he was holding his ward. Reacting on pure instinct, Naruto formed a pair of Kage Bunshin to protect him while he crouched down to set Nanashi on the floor at his feet to free his hands.

What would have happened next, Naruto would never know; the moment he'd set Nanashi down, the kid had woken up, saw the woman bearing down on them, and flung his right hand out to form a golden shield about the two of them and, because he'd been right behind them, around Kakashi as well. The woman ran into the shield and bounced off of it before stumbling backwards only to be caught by an equally old man. Naruto ignored everything and everyone at that point as his worry for Nanashi grew; the kid had already been tired out by his transportation trick and his fever and now he'd just expended a huge amount of power to surround them with a large shield.

"Enough, Nanashi-kun, drop the shield," Naruto instructed as he reached out to grab hold of the kid's outstretched right arm. For the first time, Nanashi resisted the order though; his angry leaf-green eyes focused entirely on the woman that had attacked Naruto, or more specifically, on the kunai she held in her hand. Naruto had a sneaking suspicion that the kid would not release the shield until he knew that the threat had passed and he knew that the longer the kid held onto the shield the more exhausted he would grow. "Oi, onibaba, put the damn kunai away!"

"Chiyo-sama, they are here to help," a Suna Jounin with half of his face covered by a scrap of cloth sternly but respectfully pointed out (a man that Naruto half recognized but whose name he couldn't recall at the moment).

"Tch… being forced to depend upon others; have we really fallen so low?" Chiyo grumbled as she scowled at Naruto and Nanashi before glaring past them at Kakashi. "Although, I never thought I'd see the day when the great White Fang of Konoha would sink so low as to using children for a shield."

"Neechan, that man is not Konoha's White Fang; even if he does look like him. The White Fang is dead; don't you remember? You were so upset when you heard the news that you cried tears of regret because you hadn't been able to get your revenge," the old man holding her stated.

"Oh…? So he did. I was just pretending to have forgotten."

The woman continued to natter on about weakness and fools as she tucked away the kunai but Naruto ignored her in favor of once again trying to get Nanashi to release the shield. The moment the kunai vanished, the kid dropped his arm on his own and the shield fizzled out of sight and Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. His relief was short lived as Nanashi lurched to his feet and took several staggering steps towards the woman, his hands fisted tightly at his side as he continued to glare at her. Naruto then made a huge mistake; he scooped the kid up off the floor and turned him just enough so that he could see Sakura in the middle of healing Kankurou, her hands glowing green with healing chakra as the older teen screamed and thrashed about in pain (pain that was caused by the poison in his system – not that Nanashi knew that).

If there was one thing Nanashi hated more than being separated from Naruto, it was seeing healing chakra being used on anyone. If it was directed towards him, the kid would grow absolutely terrified but the moment he saw someone attempting to use healing chakra on someone else (especially on Naruto) he'd grow enraged. The moment Nanashi saw the green chakra he flashed free of Naruto's grasp in a flash of gold light and a sharp crack. He reappeared standing over Kankurou just seconds later as his right hand snapped up and formed a shield around the thrashing teen. The shield wavered a moment before it snapped outwards and shoved those that had been hovering around the bed a good fifteen feet away.

"Nanashi, stop!" Naruto ordered as the shield swept passed him without affecting him; the only one left untouched by the glowing construct. "Kankurou has been poisoned and he's dying; you need to let Sakura-chan heal him." Angry and determined green eyes flashed in his direction for a split second before Nanashi turned his attention to the teen on the bed at his feet as said teen passed out from the poison and the pain. Naruto knew instantly what the kid was going to do next and he felt a knot of dread form in his stomach as he called out a desperate, "Nanashi-kun, no!"

His order came too late though as the kid dropped to his knees and placed his right hand over Kankurou's heart. The shield disappeared at the same instant as a golden glow encompassed the teen on the bed. Nobody dared move as they watched the scene play out; even Naruto was frozen in place as his heart rose up in the back of his throat. Not long after Kankurou's body became suffused by the golden light, a thin stream of poisonous purple liquid began rising from the small gash on the puppet user's chest before it lightly splashed down into a small, empty bucket that had been sitting on the table beside the bed.

"He's flushing the poison from Kankurou's system," Sakura exclaimed softly as she took half a step forward.

"No, he's killing himself," Naruto countered tightly; his eyes filled with pain as he finally broke free of the spell holding him in place and rushed forward. "He was already exhausted and weak from stopping the old hag's attack after he'd transported himself to our camp across hundreds of miles on top of being sick."

Naruto stopped right beside the bed and shifted nervously from foot to foot as he debated on whether or not he should stop the kid and what would happen to Kankurou if he interrupted the healing process. He had just made up his mind to stop the process (in order to protect his ward) when he noticed the poison had stopped flowing from Kankurou's body and that the wound was knitting itself closed right before his eyes. The golden glow faded away a couple of seconds later and Nanashi let out a soft sigh before he crumpled face forward onto Kankurou's chest.

"Kuso," Naruto cursed as he gathered his ward into his arms and pulled him back out of the way as Sakura and two of the Suna medics present descended upon Kankurou in order to check on his status.

A third medic approached Naruto to check on the child but he waved the man off as he gently transferred his ward to an empty bed. He then diligently checked the kid's breathing, heart rate, and pupils as Kitou-san had taught him; looking for the telltale signs that his exhaustion had reached the critical stage. The slightly gray tinge to Nanashi's skin was indication enough that the kid had drained himself further than he ever had before but thankfully his little body hadn't gone into cardiac arrest or severe shock.

Letting out a sigh of pure relief; Naruto climbed into the bed beside the child, drew the child into his arms, closed his eyes, and buried his nose in the kid's messy hair. It didn't take long for Naruto to fall into a light doze; the teen completely exhausted from all of the worrying he'd been doing on top of the grueling journey from Konoha to Suna in less than three days. Both boys were blissfully unaware of the commotion that Nanashi's healing of Kankurou had caused.

Naruto woke up several hours later as Nanashi wriggled out of his arms and attempted to drop down out of the bed. The fifteen year old snagged him about the waist before his feet touched the ground and tiredly asked, "Where are you trying to sneak off to Nanashi-kun?"

The kid blinked at him before turning his head to stare at something behind him and Naruto followed the kid's gaze to find Kankurou sitting up in his bed holding his head in his hands; a pile of smashed puppet pieces spread out over a tarp on the floor beside him. Naruto studied the older teen for a couple of minutes, noting that while he still looked rather pale, he looked far better than he had when they first arrived. The wriggling body in his arm brought his attention back to Nanashi; who was still trying to get down off the bed and Naruto frowned because he wasn't certain what the kid planned on doing.

"Nanashi-kun," Naruto called softly and he waited for the kid to glance back up at him before he sternly ordered, "You are _not_ to do any more healing. You are still far too exhausted to push yourself any further and I don't want you making yourself sicker. Do you understand?"

Nanashi's ageless green eyes stared at him for a moment before he nodded. Naruto grunted and sat up so he could set the kid down on the floor. The blond then watched as the kid flittered across the floor towards Kankurou's bed on silent feet. When the kid didn't hesitate to climb up into the bed with the puppet user, Naruto slipped off the bed he was on and crossed the distance between them in order to stop the kid if it looked like he was going to disobey the order not to heal the teen further. He needn't have worried; the kid simply sat down several inches away from Kankurou and stared intently at the teen.

Kankurou glanced up at Naruto when he sensed the blond approaching and started when he caught sight of Nanashi sitting on his bed out of the corner of his eye (the puppet user apparently had not sensed or felt the kid joining him on the bed). As Naruto watched, the Jounin furrowed his brow as he studied the kid for a moment before he was suddenly caught in the kid's soul searching gaze. Naruto groaned softly as he realized that he'd forgotten about the kid's tendency to weigh a person's soul before he heals them or allows them to touch him (Shikaku being the only exception) and since Kankurou had passed out earlier he'd not been able to do so prior to healing the teen.

He could at least take comfort in the knowledge that whatever it was that the kid did when he weighed a person's soul wasn't anywhere near as taxing as healing a person. The moment ended just seconds later and Nanashi contentedly wrapped his arms around his legs, dropped his head to his knees, and turned his face towards Naruto. Naruto sighed and shook his head as he stepped up beside the bed and tested Nanashi's temperature (which surprisingly felt rather normal despite the raging fever he'd had not that long ago) before combing his fingers through the boy's hair as he turned to study Kankurou for a moment.

"You look different without your war paint," Naruto commented after a while. "It's actually more than a little weird to see you without your face all painted up."

"Is this the gaki that Kakashi-san spoke about?" Kankurou asked instead of acknowledging Naruto's comment about his face paint.

"Yeah."

"Guess that means I owe you my life, kid," Kankurou stated as he reached out to ruffle the kid's hair.

Nanashi flinched away from the touch and jerked his head off his knees before he threw himself into Naruto's arms where he promptly buried his face against Naruto's shoulders. Seeing the puzzled look on Kankurou's face, Naruto explained, "Sorry about that; he's still rather uncomfortable with people he doesn't know touching him without warning."

"Yet he has no problem climbing up into bed with them?" Kankurou shot back incredulously.

"Well, he usually prefers to meet people before he heals them and you were kind of dead to the world at the time so I guess he felt the need to see you up close now that you are awake. He's also probably waiting for me to properly introduce you to him."

"And the part where it felt like he was striping my soul bare?"

"That was his way of testing you to make certain you were worthy," Naruto explained as he shifted Nanashi around a bit so that the kid's face was no longer hidden against his jacket. "Nanashi-kun, this is Temari-chan's brother; Amakaze Kankurou. Kankurou, this is my ward; Uzumaki Nanashi."

"You mean there is someone out there who trusted you with a kid?"

"Ha, ha; real funny man you are," Naruto shot back as Nanashi snuggled back into his side once more.

"It's a gift," Kankurou retorted with a grin before he frowned. "Not that I don't appreciate what the kid did for me but why did you bring him? If you're here to help us bring Gaara back; why would you bring your ward? The Akatsuki are dangerous criminals…"

"I didn't bring him… he tagged along unexpectedly. Kakashi-sensei should have sent a message back to the Hokage by now and she'll send someone to collect him and take him home. I know what the Akatsuki are like; I met a pair of them years ago and the last thing I'd want is for any of them to be anywhere near Nanashi. Hell, I don't even want them to ever learn he exists."

"You have my word that I won't speak of him to anyone outside of my family," Kankurou solemnly vowed. "What do you plan to do with him if you have to leave before someone from Konoha can collect him?"

"I don't know but I'll figure something out; even if I have to leave a hundred shadow clones to watch over him," Naruto declared as he dropped his chin onto Nanashi's head. Nanashi tightened his hold on Naruto in response to Naruto's words and the blond felt a knot of worry form in his stomach as he began to suspect that it wouldn't be anywhere near as easy to leave the kid behind again.

"I could watch over him for you, if you wish," Kankurou offered.

"You wouldn't mind? I thought you didn't like kids."

"I'm not particularly fond of kids but I owe him my life."

"I don't know if he'll cooperate but I appreciate the offer," Naruto stated as he flashed a half-hearted grin at the older teen.

Naruto and Nanashi left the room a few minutes later in order to hunt down something for the two of them to eat seeing as the kid hadn't eaten a thing after he'd turned up the night before. Naruto only grew more concerned when Nanashi only picked half-heartedly at his food; eating even less than he normally did. He knew the kid was worrying about being left behind again; he was clinging tighter than ever to Naruto now. Naruto was also kicking himself for mentioning that he would be leaving Nanashi behind again while the kid was within hearing range.

Once it became obvious that the kid wasn't going to eat, Naruto paid for their meal and returned to Kankurou's room to track down his two teammates. Sakura, he learned, was in Suna's greenhouses preparing an antidote for the poison that had been used on Kankurou since it was expected that they would run into the Akatsuki member that had poisoned him when they went after the pair that had kidnapped Gaara. He'd then been told that Kakashi had been shown to a room so he could rest for the time being and Baki (the man wearing a cloth over half of his face) led Naruto to the Jounin. Naruto tried to thank the dour man for his help but the man waved him off and told him that he was in Team Kakashi's debt because of what the child and Sakura had done for Kankurou and what all three of them were doing to help locate Gaara.

The moment they entered the room, Kakashi sat up and asked, "How's the little gaki doing?"

"Better; he doesn't look so gray now and I think his fever broke while we were sleeping. He didn't eat much when I took him to the hospital's cafeteria for lunch, though. He's also been extra clingy because he heard me talking with Kankurou about leaving him behind when we head out to find Gaara. When are we going?"

"Not until my ninken have picked up their trail," Kakashi answered. The man then studied Naruto and Nanashi for several minutes before stating, "You're going to have to get him to understand that he can't go with you."

"I know that, Kakashi-sensei; the last thing that I want is for Nanashi-kun to be seen, hurt, killed, or worse, captured by the Akatsuki," Naruto countered wearily as he crossed over to the second bed and dropped down onto it.

In his arms, Nanashi began adamantly shaking his head no even as he clung tighter to Naruto's jacket. Naruto sighed and shot Kakashi a troubled glance over the kid's head before he simply lay back on the bed and curled up beside the kid, It wouldn't take long before they fell into a fitful sleep (both teen and boy still exhausted). Naruto woke up sometime around sunset when Pakkun (one of Kakashi's ninken summonses) leapfrogged off his head on his way out the window.

"What happened?"

"They found the trail and our targets have holed themselves up inside of a sealed cave," Kakashi explained. "Pakkun is off to hunt down Team Gai to fill them in on the mission details and lead them to the Akatsuki's location. We'll leave just as soon as Sakura has finished preparing the antidote for the poison. Do you know what you're going to do with Nanashi?"

"Hai; Kankurou offered to keep an eye on him until someone from Konoha arrives to take him home. Who do you think baachan will have sent?"

"Someone he's met and who he's willing to trust; so most likely one of the Nara," Kakashi hypothesized as he finished collecting his scattered things. "Why don't you take Nanashi and track down Temari so you can let her know we've found them and I'll track down Sakura and find out how much longer it's going to take her to prepare the antidote. We can meet up back at the hospital so you can deliver Nanashi to Kankurou before we leave."

Naruto nodded and gathered the kid up in his arms before he headed towards the hospital to see if Temari was visiting her brother or if her brother knew where to find her. He was in luck; not only did he find Temari, he found Sakura and learned that she'd completed the antidote already. Now they just had to wait for Kakashi to turn up. Expecting to leave fairly soon, Naruto moved up beside Kankurou's bed and transferred the still sleeping Nanashi into the older teen's arms. The moment he let go though, Nanashi woke up and latched back onto him.

"Nanashi-kun, you need to stay with Kankurou; he's going to watch you until someone comes to get you to take you back to Konoha so you can see the deer again. You weren't supposed to come with me and Shikaku-san is probably very worried about you right now." Nanashi just shook his head and tightened his hold on Naruto. "Nanashi, please; I don't like leaving you behind any more than you like being left but I can't take you with me. Kankurou will keep you safe until it is time for you to go home."

Again the kid shook his head and this time he pressed his face into Naruto's stomach as his shoulders started shaking. Naruto felt utterly horrible over how Nanashi was reacting and he didn't know how to make the kid understand that he couldn't stay with Naruto, that it was too dangerous.

"Nanashi, it's not safe for you to go with me; you have to stay here. I don't want you to get hurt," Naruto repeated softly as he tried to calm the boy down. He opened his mouth to say more but the arrival of Kakashi distracted him.

"Good, everyone's here; let's go."

Naruto began extracting himself from Nanashi's death grip with Kankurou's help. He'd just gotten free and taken two steps after Kakashi when the kid slipped out of Kankurou's arms using his transportation technique and latched himself onto Naruto's left leg; causing him to stumble. Naruto groaned as he looked down to see turbulent leaf-green eyes shimmering with unshed tears (the kid on the verge of crying; something he had not done before, not even when he'd been in pain that first night when Naruto had found him) staring up at him as the kid desperately clung to his leg.

Naruto opened his mouth to repeat his words from earlier only for the kid to shake his head no as a single tear broke free and slipped down the kid's face. Nanashi then spoke for the first time since he'd been found, his little voice cracking with disuse and distress as he brokenly cried, "N…no. No stay. Need you."

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Amakaze – rain and wind or driving rain: I thought this would make a good surname for the Sand Siblings since as far as I know their surname has not been revealed in either the anime or the manga to date.  
Baachan – grandmother or old woman  
Kuso – swear word  
Onibaba – hag/witch or spiteful old woman


	8. A Guardian's Guardian

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _Mentions of character death, angst and drama, mild to moderate violence, mature content (foul language & mentions of alcohol), and AU._ _Child!Harry, Powerful!Harry, Intelligent!Harry, NOTstupid!Naruto, Powerful!Naruto, and Protective!Naruto. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 7: A Guardian's Guardian**

_September 23, 1986, All Night  
Sunagakure no Sato, Kaze no Kuni/Akatsuki Base, Kawa no Kuni_

You could have heard a pin drop in the silence that followed that desperate plea and Naruto felt his heart breaking at the thought of denying his ward what he wanted most. Suppressing the metaphysical pain as best he could, Naruto leaned down and pried Nanashi off his leg so he could crouch down and pull him into his arms as he whispered, "I can't take you with me, kid; the people we are chasing could hurt you."

"Kudasai… need stay you."

"Nanashi…"

"Hurts stay. Too far burns. Need you. Need keep safe," Nanashi desperately babbled as he twisted his hands in Naruto's jacket while more tears slipped down his face.

"I can't take you."

"Kudasai."

"I can't."

"_Kudasai!_"

"You won't be safe; it's too dangerous."

"No care. Need keep safe."

"I won't be able to keep you safe!" Naruto hollered back; his frustration growing because of Nanashi's stubbornness.

The kid's eyes took on that ageless quality that made him appear far older and more than a little otherworldly due to the tears shimmering like ice upon his lashes as he reached out and lightly brushed his fingers against Naruto's whiskered cheek as he solemnly corrected, "No; need keep _you_ safe."

Naruto's mouth opened and closed but no words flowed forth. His brain had ground to a halt and he couldn't find the necessary switch to reboot it. He just couldn't comprehend the kid's apparent complete lack of self preservation coupled with his belief that it was his job to keep _Naruto_ safe. A split second later, Naruto's brain lurched into over drive as he suddenly recalled that the kid never protected or healed himself with his ability; only others.

Ninety percent of the time those abilities had been used to benefit Naruto directly or indirectly and the other ten percent of the time it was to the benefit of people that Naruto had introduced the kid to or whom the kid had seen Naruto interact with. The only exception was his interaction with Kankurou but that entire incident actually boiled down to the kid seeing Sakura attempting to use healing chakra on the older teen, his dislike of healing chakra, and Naruto speaking about Kankurou potentially dying (though there was no telling just how much of Naruto's words the kid had understood at the time).

"Nanashi-kun, it isn't your job to protect Naruto; it's Naruto's job to protect you. Your job is to be a kid and stay safe…" Kakashi tried to explain only to trail off when Nanashi turned those ageless eyes on the older man.

"Need keep safe."

"I know you want to go with Naruto but…"

"Not want. _Need_. Too long burns. Too far rips. Not want hurt; need keep safe."

Naruto automatically tightened his arms around Nanashi as the kid began trembling once more. Despite the small part of him that was ecstatic because the kid was finally speaking, Naruto was growing frustrated because he was having trouble discerning what the kid meant. The fact that he used the fewest words possible to convey his thoughts didn't help.

"Nanashi-kun, I don't understand what it is you are trying to tell us. Your words aren't really making any sense because you're leaving too much out," Naruto complained when the circular thoughts became too irritating. "Why do you need to protect me? Why do you have to keep me safe? What is it that is hurting you?"

The kid stared up at Naruto for a long minute before he shook his head as he whispered, "Not know words. Words not right. Not same. Too many holes." The kid then pressed his hand over his own heart as he added, "Know here. Not know why. Feel not right gone. Head hurt. All burns. Hurt breathe. Stay you feel right."

"Okay… Kakashi-sensei, a little help here please?" Naruto requested when most all of what Nanashi had just said flew right over his head without even slowing down. "I'm still not exactly certain what he's trying to tell me."

"Holes. It's possible he's talking about the holes in his memories," Kakashi mused after taking a few minutes to think about Nanashi's disjointed sentences. "He's still relearning the language so he probably doesn't know the correct words to use in order to convey his meaning properly. And if I had to hazard a guess as to what the rest meant; I would say he believes that being separated from you causes him physical pain; but that doesn't make any sense."

"His scar was bleeding when he first showed up and he was burning up," Sakura softly interjected. "When I checked on him while he was sleeping there was no sign of a new injury and there was nothing to explain his fever; no trace of an infection or any sign he'd picked up a bug of any sort."

"There could be any number of explanations for the presence of the blood on his face and his fever but we really don't have the time to sit here and debate the matter," Kakashi reminded them after staring at Nanashi for several long seconds.

"No stay," Nanashi declared as he scowled fiercely at the gray haired Jounin; his leaf-green eyes still shimmering with unshed tears. "No make stay. Need go. Need keep safe."

"That's going to be a problem," Naruto deadpanned as he stood up with Nanashi in his arms. "He's right; we can't make him stay because he now knows how to transport himself. If we leave him and he jumps to us at the wrong moment…"

"It could get one of us, or him, killed," Kakashi finished as he scowled beneath his mask. "It appears we have no choice but to take him with us in order to protect him from himself. Chikushou, Tsunade is going to have my head on a platter for this. We'll deal with the drama later; let's move out."

Nothing more was said as the four shinobi headed out the door; one small child contentedly clinging to the back of one disgruntled fifteen year old. They were half way out of the village when Baki turned up to inform Temari that she had been ordered to remain behind in order to patrol the borders. The blond kunoichi threw a fit over the order until the old woman that had attempted to attack Kakashi turned up and declared her intent to go with them. Naruto didn't care one way or another so long as she didn't threaten Nanashi or get in the way of saving Gaara.

Ten minutes later, their small group was ghosting across the sand beneath the stars once more; Temari's promise to follow soon with reinforcements still ringing in their ears. As they raced across the dunes, Naruto quietly gave Nanashi several orders that he was to obey.

"You are to hold on tight and stay close to me. If I tell you to hide; you are to hide, be silent, and stay put. If I tell you to run; you are to run as fast as you can and find somewhere to hide. If I pass you to a shadow clone; you are to stay with my clone until I come get you. You are not to get in the way if I get in a fight; I have to be able to fight back. If Kakashi-sensei tells you to do something; you will do it without fussing." And so on…

Nanashi just nodded in response to each order that was given; a silent promise to do as he was told. Naruto almost sighed in relief now that the kid was no longer stubbornly refusing to listen to him. Although, to be fair, Nanashi had previously obeyed him without any hesitation (once he understood what was wanted); right up until he'd popped up in the middle of the sandstorm and refused to be left behind again. The moment the kid had been told that he'd not be left behind, he'd returned to his usual biddable self. Naruto privately thought the kid could have given Ero-Sennin a run for his money when it came to sheer stubbornness not realizing that Kakashi was currently thinking the same thing in regards to Naruto's own stubbornness.

Naruto fell silent after a while and scouted the horizon in front of them as he ran beside Kakashi while Sakura and Chiyo followed just a few feet behind. He knew the exact moment that Nanashi fell asleep against him as all of the tension bled out of the kid and his death grip around Naruto's neck loosened enough to make breathing far easier. Knowing the kid wasn't going to be causing any trouble any time soon, Naruto let out a soft sigh and allowed himself to fully focus on his surroundings.

A seeming eternity later, as the sun began cresting the horizon in front and slightly to the right of them, their small group passed out of the desert and entered the forests of Kawa no Kuni. They'd hadn't been beneath the trees for even an hour when Nanashi woke up with a jerk and twisted around on Naruto's back while letting go with one hand. Naruto nearly growled as the kid had already half disobeyed his first order only to cut it off as the kid quickly grabbed hold of him once more.

"Eyes. Bad eyes watch," Nanashi whispered fearfully into Naruto's ear before the kid shifted again and Naruto realized the kid was staring at something behind them.

Naruto skidded to a stop and spun around in place as he drew forth a kunai and scanned the forest behind them. The other three shinobi soon mimicked him with Kakashi slipping up beside him as he grabbed his crooked hitai-ate in the event he needed to uncover his Sharingan in order to fight.

"What happened?"

"Nanashi said we were being watched," Naruto replied in a low voice that wouldn't carry very far.

"Where?"

"Hide. Plant not plant," Nanashi answered as he pressed his face into Naruto's shoulder and one trembling hand pointing to the forest along their back trail. "Bad eyes watch. No soul. Dead not dead like… many you not you?"

"Many what…? I don't… wait; are you saying that the one watching us is a clone?"

"Yes. No soul. Dead not dead."

"Keep moving; if they have clones watching this far out from their base, then they may already know we are coming. Be prepared for an ambush and for kami's sake, don't go running off half cocked when we do run into them," Kakashi ordered softly as he spun Naruto around and gave him a push to get him moving. The older man then set the stretch of forest behind them ablaze with a powerful fire jutsu before he quickly caught up with the others.

The man then fondly ruffled Nanashi's hair as he murmured, "Good job, kiddo; you tell Naruto if you feel any more eyes. Everyone, head south; we'll cut back east once we've shifted our route enough to make it harder to predict which direction we'll be coming from so as to hopefully avoid any ambushes they might have set up."

Naruto felt a burst of pride for his ward; the boy had discovered a hidden watcher, he'd not panicked, and he'd quickly warned Naruto about the problem instead of acting on his own. The kid had also proved himself to be smart and adaptable and Naruto wondered how Nanashi would react to being trained as a shinobi. The kid was going to need to know how to protect himself and Gejimayu-kun had already proven that it was possible to be a ninja using taijutsu alone; if one was willing to work hard enough (so Nanashi's lack of chakra wouldn't impede him). Naruto shoved the matter of Nanashi's future to the back of his mind a moment later as he resumed scanning his surroundings; paying special attention to anything that looked out of place.

Their attempt to circumvent an ambush bought them two and a half hours before they were waylaid anyway. Kakashi sensed their attacker first and the four shinobi stopped in their tracks as a single man came into sight. Naruto recognized the man as Uchiha Itachi and recalled what had happened the last time he'd been face to face with Sasuke's older brother and how the older Uchiha had been the driving force behind Sasuke's desperate and determined desire for more power. He longed to punch the arrogant jerk in the face but restrained himself in order to better protect Nanashi.

The next eight minutes was something of a blur in Naruto's mind; an extremely short and fast paced battle that he never had a chance to participate in. It started when Itachi had trapped Naruto in a genjutsu that Nanashi managed to somehow dispel just seconds after it had taken hold of him with a burst of his gold not-chakra. Kakashi had then attacked the missing nin head on in an attempt to take him down only for Itachi swapped himself out with a shadow clone. The traitor had then attempted to attack Naruto from behind only for the man to get caught up in Nanashi's soul searching gaze as the kid twisted around to face him the moment he felt him appear.

The three Konoha shinobi and one retired Suna kunoichi were then treated to an up close and personal demonstration of what happened to those individuals that did not pass Nanashi's test. The moment Nanashi finished weighing the soul of the man facing them; the kid had let out a hissing growl of pure fury as he reached out towards the man with his left hand. The instant that hand had slammed into the man's chest, ropes made of black shadows that were streaked with acid green and burnt crimson threads wrapped around the man. The moment the insidious living ropes touched him, Itachi had let out an agonized scream that cut off roughly two minutes later when Nanashi pulled his hand back and the man dropped dead.

Only, it wasn't Itachi's dead body that was laying at Naruto's feet by the time the four shinobi pulled themselves back together. It was a dark gray haired man with a small goatee that Chiyo immediately recognized as one of the members of Suna's governing council that had gone missing the day of the attack on Suna. Burnt into the clothes above his heart (and into the man's skin), where Nanashi's hand had made contact, was a circle tucked inside of an equilateral triangle that was vertically bisected by a thick line from point to base. It was an ominous design that many would confuse with the mark of Jashin (which was actually an upside down triangle tucked inside of a circle) in the future.

Nanashi had let out a soft whimper at that point before he'd thrown up; his small body shaking like a leaf in a wind storm. Naruto brought him around and found he was burning hot to the touch while his left hand (the one that had killed their opponent) was ice cold. The pupils of both eyes were both dilated (nearly drowning out the green of his irises) and his breathing was labored; as if he'd just run twenty laps around the outside walls of Konoha at full speed without stopping. Lastly, the skin around the lightning bolt scar on his forehead was red and swollen and the scar itself wept a thin trickle of blood.

By the time Kakashi had sealed the body of the dead man (who was definitely _not_ Uchiha Itachi) into a storage scroll, the kid had passed out in Naruto's arms. Naruto had then watched as Kakashi summoned one of his ninken, a medium sized tan dog wearing a pair of sunglasses whose name was Akino, and instructed the dog to deliver the storage scroll containing the body to Tsunade. He told the dog to only give the scroll to the Hokage when she was alone and to warn her to be careful of whom she allowed to see the body it contained.

At the same time, Chiyo wrote out a report for Suna and sent it off with a tiny mechanical bird. As the tiny puppet flew off, the old woman speculated on the possibility that the Akatsuki were extracting the Ichibi from Gaara due to the dead man's attempt to waylay them. She then went into an in depth explanation about Jinchuuriki and the bijuu in response to a question that Sakura had asked. Naruto only half paid attention; his mind split once more between worry for Gaara and concern over Nanashi's current health. The revelation that extracting a bijuu from its host killed the host disturbed Sakura but Naruto had already been aware of that kernel of information thanks to Jiraiya.

Their small group had then continued on their way towards the Akatsuki hide out.

As they ran, Naruto felt sick to his stomach over what he had witnessed; his mind in turmoil over whether he should feel intimidated or awed by the sheer level of power the kid's technique had demonstrated. He was also worried about how the kid would handle the knowledge that he'd taken a life; something he himself still felt uncomfortable doing. One thing he knew for certain was that he would have preferred to never have seen what happened to someone that failed Nanashi's test. And while he'd suspected the process of failing would be unpleasant, he'd never actually thought the kid would take another's life; though there was a small part of him that had known death was one possible outcome.

The discovery of that ability frightened Naruto on many levels; an ability to kill a man with nothing more than a single touch would be utterly devastating in the wrong hands. When you combined that ability with the kid's ability to heal, his ability to transport himself over long distances, the shields he can create, and his lack of a chakra network with which to track him with; it was enough to give even the Kyuubi nightmares.

Naruto vowed, right then and there, that he would not allow anyone to take the kid away from him; not even Tsunade. It would be far too easy for someone to turn the kid into an emotionless weapon that would be damn near undetectable and unstoppable. He also repeated his earlier promise to make certain Nanashi was properly trained so that he could protect himself. The knowledge that he was carrying his ward into a highly dangerous situation frustrated him to no end and he desperately wished Nanashi hadn't been quite so special. He took it back two minutes later when he realized how selfish such a wish was just because the kid had been born with abilities that set him apart from everyone else.

The kid snuggled closer to Naruto and dropped his left hand lower and it took all of Naruto's willpower not to flinch as his mind automatically supplied the memory of just how dangerous that little hand could be. He then forced himself to recall the miracles the kid's right hand had performed; reversing Tsunade's premature aging, repairing the damage done to Kakashi's eye, and drawing the poison out of Kankurou's body. Reaching up, Naruto placed his hand over both of Nanashi's for a moment (noting that the iciness was finally fading from the left hand) before he reached back to run his fingers through the kid's hair. A soft sigh emerged from the kid as he tightened his hold for a brief second before he fell back into a deeper sleep.

"Are you getting tired? Did you need me to carry him for a bit?" Kakashi inquired as he shifted closer to run beside the blond.

"Nah, I'm fine; just thinking about… well about back there."

"He's certainly proved to be quite the bundle of surprises, ne?"

"Yeah," Naruto agreed.

"I want you to create a pair of clones to watch your back and the kid's the moment we run into the next bit of trouble in order to try and keep the kid from showing off any of his other abilities to the Akatsuki. We don't know much about the technique used to make the last guy take on the likeness and abilities of Itachi nor do we know if Itachi was able to see through the man's eyes while he was still alive. It is best to assume that they saw everything and that they will attempt to capture or kill the kid to take him out of the equation; so be on your guard."

"Wakatta."

"Sakura, I want you to avoid using any healing chakra in front of the kid if at all possible; I'd rather not risk driving the kid to feel the need to interfere. Don't let his presence distract you from doing your job though."

"Hai, Kakashi-sensei."

Nothing more was said as they steadily closed the distance between them and their destination. It was nearly sunset when it became obvious that they were going to need to stop and rest for a while as all four of them were exhausted. Nanashi was still sleeping and the kid didn't even stir when Naruto shifted him into his sleeping bag. Naruto then made a couple of clones to help set up the camp and keep watch before he lay down beside him so he could keep an eye on his ward.

Naruto woke Nanashi two hours later so that the kid could eat supper with the rest of them; the kid had slept through lunch as they'd eaten while on the move. Nanashi picked at the food but ate far more than he had during the previous three meals he'd been offered. Naruto wasn't too worried; the kid had been a light eater right from the start. So long as he was eating something at each meal, then it wasn't too big of a deal. He could always have Nanashi eat a ration bar once they were on the move again to make up for the missed meal; something he tried not to do too often since ration bars weren't a sufficient substitute for a proper meal – even if they did provide one with the vital nutrients and vitamins.

After another six hours, during which Naruto slept beside Nanashi, they packed up their camp and continued on their way. As they traveled beneath the stars and through the treetops, Naruto was half thankful for Nanashi's presence. Knowing the child was nearby helped him keep his emotions under control and made it easier to focus on his task rather than his growing fury over Gaara's predicament. At the same time, the kid was the ultimate distraction as his mere presence going into a hostile situation drew Naruto's focus away from the mission. Shaking, his head, Naruto cleared his thoughts yet again in order to avoid losing track of his surroundings.

They arrived at the bank of the river across from the hidden cave near dawn and the four shinobi dropped down out of the trees in order to study the terrain around the cave. They spent a half an hour studying and scouting the area before they came to the conclusion that there were no guards standing watch over the entrance and the group moved down onto the river in order to get a closer look. The reason for the lack of guards soon became apparent as they discovered the barrier protecting the huge boulder sealing off the entrance of the cave.

Kakashi was just explaining what he knew about the type of barrier seal that had been used to lock them out of the cave when Team Gai finally arrived looking more than a little beat up. After giving a brief report on the blue-skinned individual that they'd fought (who'd turned into someone else after he'd died rather unexpectedly – just like Itachi had – in the middle of their fight), Neji quickly used his Byakugan to confirm that Gaara was inside the hideout and determine how many enemies they could expect to face. The young Jounin soon described a demonic statue, the presence of seven chakra signatures (only three of which were clearly visible), and the strange blinding jutsu that Gaara seemed to be trapped inside of.

Kakashi and Gai spent a few minutes discussing the latest development and their options before they began searching for the remaining barrier tags so that they could tear the barrier down. Neji quickly located the four tags using his Byakugan again and the group was preparing to disperse in order to tear them down when Nanashi announced his presence once more.

"No touch. Trick," Nanashi rasped as he lifted his head and stared up at the barrier before turning to stare at the four people he'd never seen before.

"What do you mean by trick, Nanashi-kun?" Naruto asked as he ignored the confused and speculative glances that were now being directed at him and his ward.

"Eyes watch paper. No souls. Dead not dead sleep. Hide. Wait. Touch paper wake no souls."

"A trap? Activated the moment we remove the tags to deactivate the barrier?" Kakashi asked rhetorically.

"How could he know there was a trap? And how do we get around the trap?" Tenten wondered.

"Ano… when did Naruto-kun find a mini-Sasuke?" Lee asked as he rushed up to Naruto's side and reached out to poke Nanashi in the back of the head; as if to make certain he was real. Naruto felt Nanashi away flinch from the touch and he stepped sideways to move out of range of the boisterous, green spandex wearing Chuunin. Lee made to follow until Kakashi called everyone's attention back to their mission.

"Enough fooling around; we'll need to find a way to bypass the trap before we can break into the base and rescue the Kazekage," Kakashi stated.

The group spent several precious minutes attempting to circumvent the barrier to attack the boulder blocking the entrance without touching the tags but it didn't work. Naruto had suggested using shadow clones to activate the trap and Kakashi was seriously considering it when Nanashi unexpectedly piped up yet again.

"Door," Nanashi declared as he pointed to the wall of the cliff several feet away from the cave entrance.

"Um, what door?" Sakura inquired in confusion.

"There is no door," Neji stated as he used his Byakugan to scan that section of the cliff.

"Nan…shi door," Nanashi insisted with childish stubbornness, stumbling over and butchering his name as he spoke it for the first time.

The kid tried wiggling down off of Naruto's back in an effort to walk on his own only for him to freeze the moment his eyes landed on the river flowing beneath Naruto's feet. Nanashi then had a small panic attack as he scrambled higher on Naruto's back and wrapped his arms around Naruto's neck in a strangle hold. It took a few minutes, but the moment Naruto pulled Nanashi around into his arms to get Nanashi to stop staring at the water rushing beneath with terrified fascination, the kid calmed right down. Kakashi then asked the blond to have Nanashi show him where the door was while the rest of them debated other potential options of getting around the barrier and the trap tied to the barrier seals.

Naruto carried Nanashi towards the section of the wall several feet away from the gigantic boulder that the kid had pointed to earlier and softly asked him to show him the door. The kid immediately twisted around to face the cliff and reached out to place both hands on the rock wall in front of him. Nanashi then closed his eyes and furrowed his brow as the rock and dirt beneath his hands began to turn black; the darkness bleeding outwards until it roughly formed the outline of a door. Not long after that, the rock simply melted away, unexpectedly leaving behind a tunnel leading deeper into the side of the cliff.

Nanashi sighed and slumped back against Naruto when it was finished, the kid panting softly as if he'd spent the last hour running. Naruto narrowed his eyes as he glanced between the newly revealed tunnel and his ward as the niggling suspicion that he had just missed something important rose in the back of his mind. Kakashi stepped up beside the pair a moment later and peered into the tunnel for a few minutes with a slight frown on his face before he glanced to the half dozing kid in Naruto's arms.

"Neji; I need you to see where this tunnel leads," Kakashi instructed after tearing his eyes away from Nanashi to glance back towards where the others were waiting for them.

"It goes straight through the cliff and stops about two inches short of the inner cave where the Akatsuki are hiding. I don't understand; there was no tunnel two minutes ago, I would have seen it if there was."

"Could there have been a genjutsu or a barrier hiding it?" Sakura asked curiously.

"It is possible but highly unlikely," Gai answered with a frown. "We would have felt a spike of chakra as the barrier or genjutsu was dispelled. Neji; have those inside noticed anything?"

"No, they are still facing the strange statue that is linked to the jutsu that is pulling huge amounts of red chakra from Gaara. It would appear that they are struggling to keep the jutsu active. Unfortunately, Gaara doesn't have much of the red chakra left; which I would assume means that we are running out of time."

"Alright; this is what we're going to do. Naruto and Lee will guard the main entrance to the cave from atop the torii gate. Neji and Tenten will guard the entrance to the tunnel. Chiyo will guard the exit on the other side. Gai and I will enter the cave to deal with those inside along side a dozen of Naruto's shadow clones. Sakura will wait up on the river bank and prepare to take charge of Gaara once we've extracted him from his captors; I'll have a pair of Naruto's clones deliver him while we continue to keep the Akatsuki occupied. Any questions? No? Good. Let's go."

Naruto shifted Nanashi back onto his back so he could free his hands once more. He then created several dozen shadow clones, twelve of which immediately followed Kakashi, Chiyo, and Gai into the tunnel while the rest placed themselves in strategic places around the entrance and along the cliff top. The blond then quickly made his way to the top of the large gate that had been built in the middle of the river and crouched down so that he could keep an eye on the boulder, the tunnel entrance, and Sakura standing up on the top of the cliff above him. Lee joined him a minute later while Neji and Tenten took their places on either side of the formerly hidden entrance; Neji leaving his Byakugan inactive in order to conserve his chakra, only taking a look inside once every five to ten minutes.

It was an agonizingly long to wait for those that had not infiltrated the cave. Over thirty minutes had passed since Kakashi, Chiyo, Gai, and Naruto's clones slipped inside when the group waiting was given their first indication that things had not gone completely to plan. Neji had just activated his Byakugan to check on the situation inside when he called out a sharp warning two seconds before the boulder blocking the cave's entrance exploded outwards. Half of Naruto's clones were destroyed by flying rock chips and the rest began moving in to detain anyone attempting to leave the cave. The only reason Naruto, Nanashi, and Lee escaped the shower of rock fragments was because Nanashi had thrown up a shield at the last second.

The shield vanished the moment the air was clear of flying rocks (Nanashi protecting Naruto as usual but also following his orders to not interfere with Naruto's ability to fight). At the same time, a huge white bird flew out of the cave carrying the unmoving form of the Godaime Kazekage clutched in its beak. The bird flew over top of the trio clinging to the gate before it swung back around to hover just out of reach of the two shinobi on the gate.

"Give Gaara back!" Naruto ordered angrily the moment he caught sight of his fellow Jinchuuriki trapped in the bird's mouth.

"I don't think so; you see we aren't quite finished with him, un."

Naruto growled and clenched his fists as his eyes remained glued to the unnaturally still form of his friend dangling from the beak of the weird bird. On his back, Nanashi shifted and peered over his shoulder; his green eyes also tracking the form being held hostage by the Akatsuki member.

"Oho…? What is that you have with you? Ah, so you're the keeper of the troublesome little gaki that Zetsu said could sense his clones, un. Itachi mentioned he was a right annoying little snot just seconds before he was wrenched out of the formation along with Kisame and Pein. That little monster caused us quite a bit of grief; disrupting the extraction as he did, un."

"Urusai, teme! Urusai and let Gaara go!"

"No… I don't think I will. I shall show you the beauty of my art and take the interesting little monster you have with you for a ride, un. All little boys dream of flying, ne?"

Naruto threw a half dozen kunai as his surviving shadow clones attacked from above while the man was distracted. The threat to Nanashi pissed him off as did the fact that the man still had Gaara. Naruto's clones were taken out by a series of small but powerful bombs that had been thrown and guided by the long haired blond. Lee chose that moment to attack from below, the rising taijutsu master lashing out with a powerful kick that damaged one of the bird's wings (but not enough to knock it from the sky) before he took an explosion to the face. A small flash of gold saved the spandex wearing shinobi from the worst of the blast and Naruto felt a small flash of relief knowing that Lee had not been harmed.

"Good job, Nanashi-kun; you saved my friend but remember not to exhaust yourself," Naruto murmured lowly over his shoulder. "Now we just need a way to save Gaara and get him to Sakura."

"Red friend? Save friend?"

"Yes," Naruto replied automatically to Nanashi's question; not realizing that Nanashi had been asking him if he wanted the boy to save the redhead – not just asking if the redhead was a friend and if Naruto was planning to save him.

"Nashi go now."

Before Naruto could register Nanashi's words or realize what the kid planed, Nanashi had vanished in a flash of gold light and the sound of a cracking branch. Naruto let out a string of curses as he saw the kid reappear on top of the bird's beak just seconds later in a second crack accompanied by a flash of gold. He felt his heart stop as the blond on the bird made a grab for Nanashi as the kid slid down the beak and grabbed hold of Gaara's arm before both Kazekage and kid disappeared in yet another flash of gold and a loud crack that echoed up and down the river canyon.

A forth crack and flash of gold heralded Nanashi reappearing at Naruto's side with Gaara. Naruto quickly grabbed hold of both Gaara and Nanashi as the kid began slipping off of the gate before he created a pair of Kage Bunshin that immediately collected Gaara and rushed the Kazekage off to Sakura. The Akatsuki member flying the bird let out his own string of curses as Lee made another attack and hit the bird with a spinning kick that slammed the bird into the canyon wall where it exploded. Naruto and Nanashi were blown from the top of the gate by the blast and Naruto barely had enough time to grab hold of his ward before they plunged down into the river. The current swept them away as Naruto kicked up towards the surface while trying to keep hold of a panicking Nanashi.

"I got you, kid; you're safe!" Naruto assured his ward the moment the two of them broke through the surface of the water. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you." The kid instantly stopped fighting and instead latched onto Naruto as the teen climbed up onto the surface of the water and shifted the boy back onto his back. "Are you alright?"

"Nashi safe. Red friend safe."

"Yeah; we'll discuss your reckless rescue later. For now I'm going to pass you over to one of my clones and I want you to stay with him while I help Lee deal with the enemy. Do you understand?"

"Nashi keep safe?"

"No. You need to stay safe so I can fight. I don't want you to exhaust yourself; you need to be able to run. Do you understand?"

"Hai," Nanashi petulantly replied.

"Good. Now go with my clone."

Naruto started to pass the kid off to the clone that dropped down next to them only for Nanashi to suddenly balk and start fighting him. Before he could figure out what was wrong, Nanashi cried out unexpectedly as the clone roughly pulled the boy from Naruto's arms and laughed as it dashed _towards_ the fight where Lee was dodging explosions left and right instead of taking him towards safety. A second clone grabbed Naruto from behind as Nanashi let out a sharp, pain filled scream.

"Say goodbye to the kid, un. He's mine now. Art is an explosion and you can't escape my exploding clone."

"No!" Naruto screamed as he immediately realized the other blond had tricked him with a clone henged to look like one of his own clones. "_**Nanashi!**_"

The clone holding onto Naruto exploded just a few seconds after Nanashi screamed out a second time. A shockwave of destruction rocked the canyon; blasting everyone outwards from the epicenter and tearing into the walls of the canyon. When the dust and debris finally settled, Naruto surprisingly discovered that he was completely unharmed and wrapped in a bubble of pure gold with Nanashi desperately clinging to his leg with one arm. Rivulets of blood wove their way down Nanashi's borrowed orange and blue jump suit from where the kid had a kunai embedded in the back of his right shoulder – the kid's right arm dangling uselessly, the shoulder joint obviously dislocated.

"Nanashi! Thank kamisama! I thought I'd lost you," Naruto rasped as he carefully inspected Nanashi for any more injuries he might have missed.

"No take way. Nashi no leave. Nashi stay you. Nashi not like boom man."

"I can't say that I much care for the boom man either," Naruto growled as his eyes shifted from sapphire blue to blood red, his canine teeth and finger nails grew longer and sharper, and the whisker marks on his cheeks grew darker and thicker as his anger boiled over; the Kyuubi's chakra actively circulating through his body as he unconsciously drew upon it in his rage. He was mildly irritated that the Akatsuki member they'd been facing had just attempted to kill him but he was down right furious that the man had brazenly attempted to kidnap Nanashi and had harmed his ward in the process.

Bringing his hands up, he formed a cross with his first two fingers on both hands as he called out, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." He then gently gathered Nanashi into his arms, briefly hugged the kid close, and handed him to the shadow clone that had just appeared at his side in a burst of smoke. "I'm sorry I didn't notice the last clone wasn't one of mine before you'd been hurt, Nanashi-kun; I promise I'll make it up to you later. For now, this clone is mine and he will take you to safety while I make the one who hurt you pay for what he did to you."

This time Nanashi made no protest as he allowed Naruto to pass him to the clone. Another dozen shadow clones sprang into being a minute later and six of them surrounded the clone holding Nanashi in order to protect the kid while the others formed up around Naruto. Once Nanashi was clear, Naruto burst into action and threw himself back into the fight as he caught sight of Tenten firing hundreds of sharp pointy objects at the 'boom man' while Neji and Lee both physically attacked the man in turns in order to keep him from returning to the air on a new bird.

Naruto didn't hesitate to rejoin the fight as a thin cloak of menacing reddish orange chakra wrapped around him and his features grew more feral as his anger pulled upon more of the Kyuubi's chakra.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Gejimayu – Bushy brows (nickname given to Rock Lee by Naruto)  
Hai – yes  
Kage Bunshin – shadow clone  
Kami/kamisama – god/spirits  
Kawa no Kuni – River Country  
Kudasai – please  
Nashi – there isn't/doesn't have, without, or a type of Japanese pear. In this case, the first two meanings would apply as Nanashi/Harry is simply using a shortened version of his name because it is easier for him to say.  
Teme – jerk/bastard (rude way of saying you)  
Un – yeah (Deidara's verbal tick)  
Urusai – be quiet/shut up (rude)  
Wakatta – understood or I understand

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**AN:** _And we finally get to see a bit more of Harry's/Nanashi's power with the first major canon upset; Gaara's extraction was interrupted. An explanation of just what happened to the Itachi look-a-like will take place in later chapters. _


	9. A Kazekage's Gratitude

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _Mentions of character death, angst and drama, mild to moderate violence, mature content (foul language & mentions of alcohol), and AU._ _Child!Harry, Powerful!Harry, Intelligent!Harry, NOTstupid!Naruto, Powerful!Naruto, and Protective!Naruto. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 8: A Kazekage's Gratitude**

_September 25, 1986, All Day  
Akatsuki Base, Kawa no Kuni_

The next hour and forty-five minutes were a complete blur in Naruto's mind due to the influence of the Kyuubi's chakra, his barely controlled anger, and the memories of several hundred clones. The battle had finally ended when Naruto nailed the exploding clay user with a pair of Kyuubi enhanced Oodama Rasengan from both sides with the help of a trio of clones; trapping him between the giant spheres of raw, burning chakra. Neji had followed up with a chakra enhanced punch to the back of the man's head; bursting every single blood vessel in the man's brain with that one blow. That was after Tenten had severed the man's right hand in order to prevent him from creating any more clay bombs (his left arm had previously been lost at some point before they encountered him).

Kakashi, Gai, and Chiyo had dealt with the other Akatsuki member present; Akasuna no Sasori. They'd quickly learned that only two Akatsuki members had been present while the other chakra signatures that had been present aside from Gaara's were just projections that had disappeared along with the demonic statue shortly after they'd burst into the cavern. Their battle had been just as brutal as the one against the clay user; their fight destroying the entire cavern and a good portion of the southern wall of the river canyon. Their battle had finished just seconds before the battle outside finished; tragically, Chiyo had not survived the fight with her grandson.

Naruto dropped to his knees and sank several inches down into the water in exhaustion the moment the fight was over and the cloak of demonic chakra enshrouding him vanished along with his anger. It was at that point that Naruto remembered Gaara and the blond Jinchuuriki scrambled up onto his feet and dashed up the battle scarred wall of the river canyon (ignoring his exhaustion in his worry for his friend). He reached the top just seconds later and searched the area where he remembered last seeing Sakura when his clones had delivered Gaara to the pink haired kunoichi. There was more than a little evidence of a battle taking place in the area and Naruto sighed in relief as he recognized the aftermath of Sakura's chakra enhanced punches in addition to the craters created by the clay bombs; the signs that Sakura had fought back proof enough for Naruto to believe she'd survived.

A trio of shadow clones dropped down beside Naruto as he studied the area, one of them holding Nanashi and the other two looking rather singed. Naruto took a moment to check his ward over to make certain he was alright; pleased to note that his clones had snapped the dislocated joint back into place, removed the kunai, wrapped the stab wounds in gauze to stop the bleeding, and trussed the injured arm up in a makeshift sling. The kid looked extremely pale due to the blood loss and the cost of using his abilities repeatedly during the first twenty minutes of the battle. That was on top of his lingering exhaustion from his other recent exploits but he'd not been harmed further after being carried away by his clones (despite the evidence that his clones had been in at least one fight since leaving his side).

Inspection complete, Naruto collected his ward and sent the clones to track down Sakura and Gaara. He pulled out his canteen and a ration bar from his utility pouch and passed both to Nanashi after he settled the kid on his shoulders in case he ended up needing to fight again while ordering, "Eat the bar first, Nanashi-kun; the food will help you feel better after losing all that blood. Then sip the water a little at a time so you don't upset your tummy."

Once he was certain that the kid was following his instructions, Naruto took off at a slow trot following the trail of destruction. He'd not gone too far before he received confirmation from the memories of one of his clones that Sakura was just a short ways up ahead doing her damnedest to heal Gaara. The fact that Sakura was in tears and appeared to have been for quite some time didn't bode well for the young Kazekage. Naruto paused just out of sight; torn between wanting to help his friend and needing to keep his charge from overreacting due to Sakura using healing chakra on his fellow Jinchuuriki.

The decision was made for him when he heard Sakura let out a wordless cry of frustration; he instinctively knew she'd done all she could and that it had not been enough. Dashing into the clearing, Naruto found Sakura sobbing on Gaara's chest and clinging to the tattered edges of the long maroon battle robes that Gaara had been wearing. Naruto set Nanashi on the ground at the edge of the clearing and quietly told him to stay put as he continued forward and dropped down beside his teammate.

The blond gently pulled Sakura off Gaara and held her tightly as he asked, "What happened?"

"I used up too much chakra fighting the exploding clay creations that clay user kept sending to recapture Gaara. I can't heal him and he's dying. Everyone else did their part but I'm too weak to do mine."

"I doubt that's true; you stopped the creep's efforts to recapture Gaara and you did what you could for him. He's not dead yet and the extraction was interrupted so we still have a chance to set things right. A little rest and you'll think of something to help him."

"Chigau… you're charge is going to beat her to the punch again," Kakashi pointed out with no small amount of exasperation as he limped into the clearing with the help of Gai; the two Jounin leading the rest of their small force.

Naruto glanced up at Kakashi before turning to look for Nanashi in the spot where he'd told the kid to stay only to find the kid was no longer there. Spinning back around to face his dying friend, Naruto found his ward kneeling on the opposite side of Gaara with his right hand resting directly over Gaara's heart and his eyes firmly glued to Gaara's face. The blond teen groaned when he realized that Gaara was awake and he immediately knew that Nanashi was currently in the process of weighing Gaara's soul. Naruto was torn between wanting to stop Nanashi and wanting to help the kid because the last thing he wanted was for Gaara to die.

Nanashi glanced up at Naruto for a brief moment after breaking eye contact with Gaara before he returned his gaze to the Kazekage. The golden glint of Nanashi's healing ability was seen engulfing the Ichibi's host just seconds later. There was an instant where Naruto could have sworn he saw a pair of mismatched wings bracketing his ward but it was gone so fast he couldn't be certain. A seeming eternity later, the glow faded away and Nanashi withdrew his hand from Gaara's chest. The kid then slumped down so he was half laying over Gaara and let out a soft sigh as he closed his eyes for a moment.

"Come here, Nanashi-kun," Naruto ordered softly after studying his ward for several minutes.

The boy opened his eyes and glanced up at Naruto for a brief moment before he let out another small sigh and weakly climbed right over the now sleeping Kazekage. Nanashi didn't hesitate to curl up against Naruto's chest when the teen scooped him up in his arms; it was, after all, one of the kid's favorite places to be.

"I thought I told you not to exhaust yourself?"

"Nashi safe. No need run. Boom man gone."

"Boom man?" Tenten repeated in confusion.

"He's referring to the clay user and the explosions," Naruto explained with a sigh. "And Nanashi, you put yourself in danger by healing Gaara because you've pushed yourself far too often these past few days. If you drain yourself completely you could die."

"Nashi fine. Nashi not want sad. Nashi need save red friend."

"Naruto-kun, can you introduce us to your most Youthful mini-Sasuke now?" Lee requested eagerly when Naruto didn't immediately reply to Nanashi's latest declaration.

"Kakashi-sensei? They've already seen some of what he can do."

"The Godaime is going to cut out my heart with her favorite sake cup and feed it to the crows before she mounts my head on a pike outside of her office," Kakashi groused as he glanced around to take in the three youngest members of Team Gai. "The three of you can not speak a single word of what you've witnessed Nanashi-kun do during the battle nor can you speak of him to anyone who does not already know he exists. Nanashi's entire existence is currently considered an S Class secret and revealing his presence to anyone outside of Tsunade, Jiraiya, Shizune, Inoichi, Iruka, the Nara Clan, and those of us here in this clearing will be considered treason and punished accordingly."

"Temari, Kankurou, Baki, and a couple of others in Suna have met him as well and they know that he can heal," Naruto added as he climbed to his feet with Nanashi in his arms. "Nanashi-kun, I'd like you to meet my friends; Rock Lee, Kobayashi Tenten, Hyuuga Neji, their sensei Maito Gai, and the one you healed is the Godaime Kazekage, Amakaze Gaara. Everyone, this is my ward; Uzumaki Nanashi."

"Yosh; your Youthfulness burns brighter than ever, Naruto-kun, taking in a mini-Sasuke to raise!"

"It is nice to meet him but was most irresponsible to bring him on a mission, Naruto," Gai interjected gravely before he glanced sideways at Kakashi. "I expected better of you, Kakashi."

"Nashi not…"

"We didn't bring him on the mission; I left him with Shikaku-san the day we left Konoha. He followed us on his own and refused to be left behind in Suna," Naruto explained after he shushed Nanashi. "He has an ability that allowed him to transport himself to my side and we don't yet know if there is a limit to how far he can transport himself. We weren't that far from Suna when he transported himself all the way from Konoha into the middle of our camp."

"You brought him with you when you left Suna because it would have been dangerous if he'd turned up unexpectedly during a fight or if he transported himself to your side while you were traveling through the trees or over the water," Neji quickly surmised. "One question though; how are you hiding his chakra signature? I've felt nothing from him and when I looked at him with my Byakugan earlier I could not see his chakra network."

"That's because he doesn't have one."

"That's not possible, everyone has a chakra network; even the dead have a chakra network – they just lack chakra."

"He has some kind of energy that functions much like chakra," Kakashi stated with a shrug. "We have not yet learned the full extent of his abilities but we do know that he can heal, create barrier like shields, and transport himself."

"How long have you been taking care of him, Naruto? And where did you find him?" Tenten asked as she moved closer to get a better look at the kid. Nanashi turned and pinned her with his soul searching gaze the moment she stepped up to Naruto's side. The moment he tucked his face back against Naruto's shoulder (after Naruto prevented him from healing the kunoichi's numerous cuts, bruises, and burns and exhausting himself further) she shakily added, "And what in the world just happened!?"

"Only a couple of months; I rescued him from a stray dog the night I returned to Konoha with Jiraiya-sensei. And Nanashi just weighed your soul; congratulations on passing his test."

"What happens if you fail?" Lee asked curiously as he moved closer. "What exactly is it he is testing?"

"To fail his test is death," Kakashi gravely stated as he stepped between Lee and the child (presumably to prevent the kid from testing Lee). "We don't know exactly what it is he is looking for when he weighs a person's soul but he leaves no stone unturned; from the moment you meet his gaze your soul is laid bare to him."

"A doujutsu of some kind?" Gai asked as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Possibly."

"Does he test everyone he comes across?" Lee inquired as he leaned around Kakashi to continue studying Nanashi and Naruto suspected the green clad Chuunin wished to be tested for some inexplicable reason.

"No, he hasn't tested me," Sakura admitted. "I don't think he likes me very much either."

"So far, it appears as if he only tests those that invade his personal space," Kakashi answered.

"Unless your name is Shikaku or he is exhausted or unconscious," Naruto added as he recalled the many times that Shikaku had plucked the kid out of his arms. "There's only four people he's met aside from Shikaku that he's not tested; Jiraiya-sensei (though he hasn't really spent all that much time around Nanashi), Sakura-chan, Temari-chan, and Chiyo-baasan. Where is Chiyo-baasan anyway?"

"She died helping us defeat her grandson," Kakashi revealed tiredly, the long days of travel and his earlier fight finally getting to him. "We'll need to set up camp nearby and rest for a while before we seal the bodies and a large number of dangerous puppets. Gai and I are also going to need those doses of poison antidote that you created, Sakura."

"I'm not that tired, Kakashi-sensei; I'll have my clones start gathering the puppets and help set up camp," Naruto offered as he transferred Nanashi onto his shoulders once more before he created another two dozen clones. "Do you have any empty storage scrolls I can seal everything in? If not, Ero-Sennin taught me how to make my own; mine are just a little harder for other people to open because of the furball."

Kakashi tossed the teen several scrolls in response and Naruto in turn tossed them to one of the clones before he sent the small army of blonds to start collecting the bodies and puppets. Lee then jumped forward to help Naruto set up camp while Sakura treated Gai and Kakashi for poisoning and bandaged the worst of their wounds (which didn't require any chakra on her part). Everyone else either stood guard or sat down to rest; few of them having the energy to keep up with Naruto or Lee after the intense battles they'd just been involved in. Nanashi was eventually tucked into Naruto's sleeping bag not far from where Gaara was still sleeping off his near death after the kid had fallen asleep on the blond's shoulders.

Naruto woke Nanashi several hours later, just as the sun was setting, in order to coax the kid into eating something for supper. As the kid picked at the roasted rabbit that Tenten had caught and Sakura had cooked, Nanashi kept glancing between Gai and Lee and Naruto had a hard time containing his amusement over the puzzled expression on the kid's face. Gejimayu and Gekimayu-sensei looked enough alike that they could be easily confused for a pair clones and were often mistaken for father and son.

The meal was almost over when Gaara finally woke up and the young Kazekage seemed greatly confused to find himself surrounded by Konoha shinobi but he didn't speak up until his eyes fell on Naruto. "Naruto…?"

"Gaara! You're finally awake, how are you feeling?" Naruto inquired as he spun around on the log he was sitting on to grin at his fellow Jinchuuriki.

"Exhausted and more than a little weak but above all confused; the last thing I clearly remember was fighting a member of the Akatsuki in the sky above Suna. Everything else is a blur of pain. Where are we? How did you find me?"

"We're in Kawa no Kuni. The Akatsuki brought you here and attempted to extract the Ichibi. Baki had notified Konoha about the fight between you and the Akatsuki and the Hokage sent us to help," Naruto explained without hesitation as Nanashi peeked up over the log from where he'd been sitting on the ground near Naruto's feet to peer curiously at the redhead.

"Then I owe you my…" Gaara started only to stop the moment his eyes fell on the child. After a moment, he shook his head and softly declared, "I had thought you were just a dream."

"Nashi not dream. Nashi just Nashi. Nashi not like dream. Dream bad," Nanashi countered before he ducked his head and shrank back behind Naruto; his shy nature kicking in the moment he realized everyone was watching him.

"Ara, I forgot you weren't awake when I introduced everyone earlier," Naruto exclaimed as he reached back to pick up Nanashi and settled him in his lap so that he was no longer hidden from his fellow teen. "Gaara meet Uzumaki Nanashi, my ward. His status as my ward or even the fact that he exists is kind of a big secret so I'd be grateful if you didn't let people know about him. Temari and Kankurou both have met him and Baki and a few medics know about him but that's about it in Suna. There's only a handful that know about him back in Konoha as well, along with everyone here."

"His parents were cruel to give the child such a cold name," Gaara stated bluntly as he continued to study the child.

"His parents weren't the one who named him; I did. When I found him, he didn't know his name and he has no way of remembering what his name was because someone stole most of his memories and those that weren't stolen were damaged. I didn't want to believe that it was impossible for him to find what he lost and refused to give him a name that was not his. I wanted him to be able to be himself; not whoever it is he thought I wanted him to be. If there comes a day when he decides he wants a new name or if he remembers his old name, then he is more than welcome to change his name."

"Nashi not mind," Nanashi interjected as he steadily met Gaara's gaze for a moment before he twisted around to snuggle against Naruto's chest.

"Urgh, that is seriously starting to bug me," Tenten spluttered suddenly. "Why does Nanashi-kun keep referring to himself in the third person and why aren't you trying to correct his speech?"

"Don't blame Nanashi-kun's method of speech on Naruto," Kakashi quickly advised in Naruto's defense. "As Naruto stated, Nanashi's memories had been tampered with; what he didn't tell you is that Nanashi's entire life had been striped from him, including his knowledge of how to speak and understand Japanese. Naruto has been working with Iruka in order to re-teach Nanashi the language and right now his vocabulary is rather limited. In fact, up until two days ago, Nanashi-kun had not spoken a single word in the two months he'd been with Naruto. So, essentially, Nanashi's speech is on level with what one would expect from a three year old, though his comprehension of spoken Japanese seems to be on par with what one would expect of an eight or nine year old now."

"I'm not correcting him because I don't want him to stop talking. I'm also more than a little afraid he'll think that I'm angry or disappointed with him if I am constantly correcting him," Naruto confessed once Kakashi had finished. "Then there is the fact that I was never very good with grammar; though I've learned quite a bit during Nanashi's lessons with Iruka-sensei because he only agreed to help me teach Nanashi if I helped him with the lessons and promised to read him a story each night. I've been slacking off since he turned up just before we reached Suna but I didn't pack any story books, Nanashi didn't bring anything with him when he turned up, and I didn't think to buy any in Suna because we were rushed for time and Nanashi was originally supposed to stay with Kankurou."

"Nashi not stay way. Nashi need keep safe."

"Yes, I know and while I might wish you did not feel the need to watch over me; I am thankful that you protected me and my friends, dattebayo," Naruto sighed as he ran his fingers Nanashi's hair.

"If Nanashi-kun was not just a figment of my imagination; does that mean he really was the one to heal me?" Gaara inquired after a few minutes as he gingerly climbed to his feet and carefully approached the campfire in order to grab something to eat and get a closer look at Nanashi.

"Yes. Sakura-chan protected you after Nanashi took you from the clay user and she'd tried healing you even though she was exhausted at the time. I'm certain Sakura could have finished healing you once she'd rested but Nanashi-kun healed you first; much like he did when Sakura had tried to heal Kankurou."

"What happened to Kankurou?"

"He'd been fatally poisoned when he'd faced Akasuna no Sasori alone after tracking your kidnappers through the desert for half a day," Sakura answered. "It was thanks to Kankurou that we were able to track your kidnappers and create an antidote for the poison that was used by Sasori."

"Then I owe Nanashi-kun two debts; one for saving my life and one for saving my oniisan," Gaara declared as he sat down beside Naruto. "I also owe Konoha my gratitude for sending you to Suna's aide in the first place."

"We were glad to help," Gai stated seriously without his usual verbal eccentricities.

A companionable silence fell over the camp at that point as everyone returned to their meals. As he finished his food, Naruto silently reflected upon everything he'd learned about his ward over the past three to five days; the most troubling of which was learning that the child would and could kill those that failed his soul weighing test. He wondered if the kid knew what he'd done and if he would have nightmares over the fact that he'd taken another life. Naruto had never really felt all that comfortable taking another's life; always doing his best to capture his enemies. He still recalled the guilt he'd felt after taking his first life and how the nightmares had haunted him for months; and he'd been thirteen at the time.

"How old are you Nanashi-kun?" Tenten asked out of the blue, bringing Naruto's attention back to the present.

Nanashi tensed at the question before he simply shrugged his left shoulder and shook his head; he did not know how old he was. Naruto sighed and propped his chin on the kid's head; he knew the boy was more troubled then he let on about the holes in his memories though he no longer completely panicked like he had that first time Naruto had finally figured out how to make the boy understand that he wanted to know his name.

"I thought he was about four based on his size and weight but Tsunade-baachan thinks he's probably closer to six due to signs of prolonged malnutrition; we don't know for certain though. We don't even know what day he was born."

"Shichigatsu three-one, one-nine-eight-zero," Nanashi absentmindedly supplied as he timidly studied the redheaded teen seated beside them.

"Are you sure, Nanashi-kun?" Naruto asked in surprise as the last time he'd asked the kid if he knew his birthday he'd not gotten any response. Confused green eyes glanced up at him and Naruto wondered if the kid had even realized that he'd spoken a moment earlier. Curious to know if the kid had actually regained one of his missing memories, Naruto carefully asked, "Nanashi, when is your birthday?"

"Nashi not know," Nanashi replied in a frustrated tone.

"Do you know when you were born?"

"Shichigatsu three-one, one-nine-eight-zero."

"Those are both the same questions; why would he answer the second but not the first?" Sakura inquired with a small frown. "For that matter, if he knows his birthday why doesn't he know how old he is?"

"Naruto, how much has Iruka taught Nanashi about the calendar, dates, and simple addition and subtraction?"

"He's only taught him the names of the months and days of the week, Kakashi-sensei. He had only just started teaching him his numbers a couple of days before we left the village. They were working on counting during the last lesson we'd had together so I don't think he's actually started him on addition or subtraction."

"I suspected that might be the case," Kakashi replied with a nod. "Nanashi-kun, do you know what the word tanjoubi means?"

"Nashi not know word."

"Well, that would explain why he didn't know his birthdate; he didn't know what was being asked of him, so of course he couldn't answer the question," Kakashi summarized as he gave the child an eye smile. "He's also not been re-taught much in the way of math so he wouldn't know how to calculate his own age and since he was just relearning how to count, he doesn't know the proper words for the dates and years; hence why he listed the numbers individually instead of just saying the date. Nanashi, a birthday is what you call the day a person is born."

"So he really is six?"

"So it would seem; though he is a bit on the small side."

"He is rather powerful for such a young child; will you train him as a shinobi?" Gaara asked curiously.

"I have considered it; he will need to know how to protect himself since he tends to throw himself into the fray without regard for his own safety if he sees someone in danger and tends to attempt to flee when directly attacked. It is doubly important now that the Akatsuki are aware of his existence."

"Nashi not like fight, not like hit. Nashi keep safe. Nashi heal."

"Nanashi-kun needs to eat," Naruto ordered instead of responding to the child's rather stubborn statements; his mind automatically returning to his earlier concerns about how Nanashi would deal with taking a life once he remembered killing that man.

Nanashi made a face in response to the order but didn't hesitate to comply; once more picking halfheartedly at the rabbit meat on his plate. Satisfied that he was at least trying to eat, Naruto turned his attention to Gaara and spent the next hour catching up with his friend. He paid enough attention to his ward to know the six year old continued to switch between watching Gaara and studying the members of Team Gai (focusing more on Gai and Lee than on Tenten and Neji). It also didn't escape his attention that Nanashi was being observed just as intently in return; by Gaara and Lee most of all.

When his ward fell back asleep not long after he'd eaten as much as he could, Naruto tucked him back into bed and crawled in beside him; the long day finally catching up to him. He was woken up several hours before dawn the next morning by his last remaining shadow clones as the chakra construct passed him five storage scrolls; one labeled Akatsuki, one labeled as Chiyo, and three labeled as puppets. Naruto slid out of bed in order to hand them over to Kakashi, unintentionally waking Nanashi in the process.

"Go back to sleep, Nanashi-kun; I'll be back in a few minutes. I just have something I need to give to Kakashi-sensei."

Nanashi snuggled back into the sleeping bag but kept his eyes open as he tracked Naruto's path across the camp and Naruto sighed as he felt the kid's eyes burning a hole in his back. It was a reminder of just how stubborn the kid could be when he wanted to be. Kakashi's soft laugh as he handed over the scrolls let him know that the Jounin was amused by the kid's stubborn nature and Naruto snorted; Kakashi hadn't found that stubbornness at all entertaining back when the kid was refusing to be left behind. When he returned to his makeshift bed, Naruto actually found Nanashi studying the sleeping Gaara through half closed eyes instead of still watching him as he'd half expected.

"What is it that you find so interesting about Gaara, Nanashi-kun?"

"Red. Red like… like… not know word. Only know red. Much red down here," Nanashi tried to explain as he reached up with one hand to run his fingers through his own hair before pulling his hand down to about his waist; a reference to someone who'd had long red hair.

"Gaara's red hair reminds you of some you used to know with long red hair?"

"Yes. Nashi like red. Nashi miss red."

"You're talking about your memories. There were two women that Inoichi-san saw in your memories and they both had long red hair."

"Yes. Nashi miss red and little red. Miss little mes and moon boy too. Bad green take all way."

Naruto felt Nanashi trembling and drew him closer to offer him a measure of comfort; the teen easily able to relate to the child's grief over the loss of his precious people. Nanashi didn't cry but he did curl closer to Naruto; the child readily accepting the comfort that Naruto was offering him. When the boy finally calmed down, Naruto thought he'd fallen back asleep until Nanashi spoke up once more.

"Nashi like you. Like red friend too. Red have two soul like you. Sand soul tired. Hungry soul weak. Hungry soul empty. Not you. You have bright soul. Have dark soul too. Bright soul cold, fast; like air. Dark soul dark; burns. Dark soul hate bright soul. Dark soul angry. Dark soul want hurt. Nashi not like dark soul; dark soul not you. Dark soul not bad. Nashi need leave dark soul lone."

"Two souls? You can sense the Kyuubi and the Ichibi?" Naruto asked in surprise since as far as he knew no one had ever mentioned the bijuu in Nanashi's hearing (the six year had been out cold when Chiyo had spoken of the Jinchuuriki after their encounter with the Suna traitor that had taken on Itachi's likeness for a short while). "You don't have to be afraid of the Kyuubi; he can't hurt you. He's locked in a cage."

"Nashi fine. Nashi not fear. Nashi safe. Nashi keep you safe. Nashi watch dark soul. Nashi not let dark soul hurt you. Nashi not let dark soul go bad."

Naruto felt a thread of fear shoot through him at the mere thought that his ward would attempt to protect him from the Kyuubi. He then recalled the way the child had killed that man with just a touch and wondered if such a technique could affect one of the bijuu. Naruto felt a burst of sheer terror sweep through him for a brief instant before a wave of pure rage drowned it out and it took him a moment to realize that the two feelings had originated from the Kyuubi; the nine tailed fox had been frightened by something and was angry about. He opened his mouth to tell Nanashi to forget about the Kyuubi only to find that the kid had finally gone back to sleep snuggled up in his arms.

"You're going to drive me crazy until I'm as old and gray as Kakashi-sensei."

"I heard that, Naruto!"

Naruto snickered into Nanashi's hair; there was nothing Kakashi hated more than someone inferring that he was old just because his hair was gray – unless they were threatening his precious Icha-Icha collection. The man would most likely pay Naruto back for the insult but Naruto wasn't too worried; he still had a few tricks up his sleeve he could use to protect himself. Worry over Nanashi's knowledge of the Kyuubi faded from Naruto's mind has he drifted back to sleep still snickering every few seconds.

Both teen and child were up and moving again just after dawn along with the rest of those present. Camp was being broken down by all of the teens (except Gaara) while the two adults cooked breakfast and Gaara kept Nanashi entertained. The Kazekage was sitting on the ground with Nanashi perched on his lap as he helped the kid practice his kanji using a pair of twigs and a pile of loose dirt. Naruto noted a look of amazement crossing Gaara's face from time to time due to the fact that Nanashi showed no fear and did not shy away from his touch. The rather touching scene made him wish that he had brought a camera with him.

After breakfast had been eaten and all traces of their camp had been removed, the eight shinobi and one child began the long trek back to Suna. Kakashi needed to be helped along by Gai, the gray haired Jounin had been injured on top of the exhaustion that came from excessive use of the Sharingan (though his exhaustion was no where near as severe as it would have been prior to Nanashi healing that eye). Gaara was likewise being helped along by Lee and Naruto, the Kazekage still weak due to extreme chakra exhaustion and his close brush with death less than twenty-four hours earlier. Nanashi, for once, was allowed to walk at Naruto's side; the kid more than a little tired of being carried around all the time and surprisingly full of energy despite his exhaustion from the previous day.

Because they were strolling along at a rather leisurely pace, Nanashi's eyes were constantly roving over the land they were passing through; taking in everything he'd been unable to notice before due to how fast they'd been traveling. His curiosity was boundless and armed with two new words that Gaara had taught him and his willingness to speak, Nanashi was quickly tiring everyone out with an endless stream of a single question (in the form of 'what this?') every few seconds when something new caught his attention. Only the worry that telling or asking him to stop would crush his new found interest in the world around him prevented any of the shinobi from voicing their desire for a moment of peace.

"Hold up, everyone!" Kakashi snapped out urgently after they'd been traveling for about four hours. "Someone comes!"

As one, the group formed up around Gaara with Naruto and Lee still supporting the young Kazekage; everyone else facing a different direction as they waited for the potential attacker to show his or her face. In the center of the group, Nanashi was silently clinging to Naruto's back with his left hand, his right arm still snugly secured in a sling; the blond had picked up his ward the instant that Kakashi had spoken.

When he felt Nanashi shifting slightly, Naruto knew the kid was planning on protecting him from any harm and it both heartened and frustrated him. He really wished the kid would take more care in regards to his own life but at the same time the knowledge that he was willing to protect people he considered precious meant he could, in time, become a formidable shinobi. That would, of course, depend on whether or not he could talk the kid into cooperating with him as the kid had already stubbornly stated he didn't like to fight.

It only took a few minutes for the younger shinobi to hear what had caught Kakashi's attention (thanks to the man's superior senses) and as one they all glanced to the west before those facing the other cardinal direction quickly refocused their attention on the forest right in front of them. Nanashi, on the other hand, turned his attention to the east for several long minutes before he buried his face against Naruto's shoulder as his entire body began trembling.

"Nani…?"

Naruto would get the answer to his unfinished question not long after a group of Sand shinobi burst out of the trees from the west; the group being led by Temari, Kankurou, and strangely enough, Shikamaru. Just a couple of minutes after their arrival, a medium sized brown dog wearing sunglasses dropped down out of the trees from the east; Akino had returned from Konoha. The moment Naruto caught sight of Kakashi's ninken he understood why his ward had become frightened; Nanashi obviously recalled the stray that had attacked him just a few months earlier and feared he'd be attacked once more.

"Mendoukusei," Shikamaru complained the moment he caught sight of Naruto and Nanashi.

"Hey, Shikamaru! Temari! Kankurou!" Naruto called out as he released his hold on Gaara so he could pull Nanashi around in order to reassure him.

"Gaara!" Temari cried out as she finally caught sight of Gaara leaning lightly against Lee. "You're alive!"

"You've certainly stirred up a hornet's nest," Shikamaru stated apathetically when he stepped up beside Naruto as those Suna shinobi present swarmed around Gaara to assure themselves that Gaara was alright. "Okaasan was in a right fine state of panic the night Nanashi-kun disappeared. He'd fallen ill not long after lunch on the day you left; developing a high fever and constantly clutching at his head and chest as if he had a headache and his chest hurt. He wouldn't let anyone come near him though, not even otousan."

"Okaasan said the kid's scar ripped itself open, as if an invisible person had reopened it with a kunai, just seconds before she saw him disappear in a burst of gold and a loud crack shortly after sunset on the second day. Otousan had the whole clan out scouring the entire village for him ten minutes later. You have no idea how relieved he was to learn that you'd somehow found him, or maybe it was that he found you, and that he was safe in Suna. Can you imagine my surprise when, upon running into Temari and Kankurou on the border between Kawa no Kuni and Kaze no Kuni, I learned that you had not left Nanashi in Suna as planned but had taken him with you to face the Akatsuki?"

"It was either bring him with us or risk him transporting to our side at the worst possible moment and ending up getting hurt worse than he had been during the fight," Naruto explained with a sigh. "He was quite stubborn and vocal in his refusal to be left behind."

"Huh. How troublesome; he's already picking up your bad habits. "

"Oi!"

The laughter of those that had been close enough to hear the short exchange filled the small clearing as the entire group once more began heading back towards Suna, where the entire village was diligently waiting and praying for the safe return of their Kazekage.

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**Translations:** Japanese to English

Akasuna no Sasori – Sasori of the Red Sand  
Ara – oh/ah  
Gejimayu – Bushy brows (nickname given to Rock Lee by Naruto)  
Gekimayu-sensei – Bushier brow sensei (nickname given to Maito Gai by Naruto)  
Kawa no Kuni – River Country  
Kaze no Kuni – Wind Country  
Mendoukusei – how troublesome, this sucks, or what a drag  
Nani – what  
Oi – hey  
Okaasan/kaasan – mother  
Oniisan/niisan – older brother  
Oodama Rasengan – Giant Rasengan  
Otousan/tousan – father  
Shichigatsu – July  
Tanjoubi – birthday

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**AN:** _There was something I was going to say but I can't remember what it was… oh well, if I remember it I can always toss it up at the end of the next chapter. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter, next chapter should be up in four days. ~ Jenn  
_


	10. Homecomings and Interrogations

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _Mentions of character death, angst and drama, mild to moderate violence, mature content (foul language & mentions of alcohol), and AU._ _Child!Harry, Powerful!Harry, Intelligent!Harry, NOTstupid!Naruto, Powerful!Naruto, and Protective!Naruto. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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**Chapter 9: Homecomings and Interrogations**

_September 30, 1986 ~ October 03, 1986  
Sunagakure no Sato, Kaze no Kuni/Konohagakure, Hi no Kuni_

Three days after returning to Suna, Team Kakashi, Team Gai, Shikamaru, and Nanashi said their farewells to the Sand Siblings as they prepared to head back to Konoha. The Konoha shinobi had stayed in Suna for an extra couple of days in order to make certain that the Akatsuki didn't immediately attack the village a second time to kidnap a still recovering Gaara again. The extra time also allowed everyone to recover from their battles.

Nanashi had clammed up and withdrawn immediately after they'd been joined by the large contingent of Suna shinobi; the kid was apparently extremely uncomfortable around crowds (this being the most people the six year old had been around since Naruto had found him; not counting when they first arrived in Suna nearly a week earlier). Naruto was sad to see his ward withdrawing once more; the blond had quickly grown to prefer the child's near endless chatter and curious questions to his constant silence. The six year old at least hadn't shied away from Gaara after the others joined them, his fascination with the redhead as strong as ever; especially once Gaara recovered enough chakra to take control of his sand once more.

In fact, after watching Gaara manipulate the sand a couple of times, Nanashi took to carrying around a small bag of sand with him everywhere he went and often sat scowling at the bag as he tried to make the sand obey him. It was actually kind of amusing to watch the kid sit in the corner for long stretches of time just staring at the small bag of sand while wearing an adorable scowling pout. Gaara eventually took pity on the kid and showed him how he imbued his chakra in the sand to make it obey him.

Unfortunately, because Nanashi didn't have chakra, he couldn't imbue the sand to make it obey him and whenever he tried to pour his own energy into the bag of sand, he always turned it into glass instead. It didn't turn the bag of sand into a solid lump of glass though; it turned each individual grain of sand into glass and after the first two days of trying he had close to ten pounds of miniscule glass beads.

The beads themselves were rather dangerous as they had sharp edges and were easy to get in your eye or breathe into your lungs where the edges would cut and tear everything they came into contact with. That was something that Naruto had had the misfortune to experience first hand and if not for the Kyuubi and Sakura's skills he'd have ended up blind or potentially have drowned in his own blood. Naruto had been quick to seal each bag Nanashi created into a storage scroll to prevent the kid from hurting himself shortly after he'd learned how dangerous they were.

On the day they were due to leave, Gaara gifted Nanashi with a foot and a half tall hand carved puppet that looked exactly like Gaara and a small bag that held about four ounces of Gaara's special sand. So long as Nanashi always kept the small bag of sand with him, Gaara would be able to watch over him from a distance due to his connection to the sand. Nanashi had allowed Naruto to thread a leather thong around the mouth of the bag holding the sand so he could wear it around his neck. The puppet, on the other hand, had been made by Kankurou and even had a small gourd on its back fashioned from clay. Nanashi had given Gaara a hug and the scroll holding the glass sand he had made in return.

Over the course of the first day's travel, Nanashi remained quiet and would frequently glance back behind him to watch the rapidly disappearing bulk of Suna's great stone walls. Naruto wondered if the boy was missing Gaara that much and if he would have preferred staying in Suna with him; the kid had grown quite fond of the rather stoic Kazekage. That thought was a surprisingly painful thought; the mere possibility that Nanashi would prefer someone else cut deeply. On the other hand, because it was Gaara that Nanashi was so fond of, Naruto would not hesitate to let the boy go if that was what he really wanted.

Naruto knew that Gaara would both be able to protect Nanashi and would take good care of Nanashi.

The blond needn't have worried, once Suna had vanished completely from sight Nanashi stopped peering over his shoulder and instead began taking an interest in his surroundings again. He wouldn't start talking again until they had left the desert behind and set up camp well after sunset that night.

The rest of the trip back to Konoha passed in a blur of endless babble for the blond teen as Nanashi once again asked question after question about the things he found, saw, or heard. If Nanashi had been left to walk on his own, the trip probably would have taken far longer since the kid would have meandered back and forth across the road in search of mysteries to unravel instead of just walking in a straight line. As it was, the moment they made camp each night, Nanashi would explore every last inch of their camp site and dig up all manner of strange things; including old rusted shinobi weapons and tools, an assortment of colored rocks and stones, and the leaves of any plant he found that he didn't recognize.

The moment that the walls of Konoha rose up out of the forest in front of them, Nanashi retreated into silence again. In fact, the closer they got to the village, the tenser his ward grew. Naruto was puzzled about why his ward was growing apprehensive but before he could try and coax an answer out of Nanashi, Kakashi called a halt and shuffled their group off the road. The Jounin then summoned half of his ninken pack (much to Nanashi's distress) to stand guard around the small clearing they stopped in to make certain they weren't being followed or spied upon while he raised a rather simplistic privacy barrier.

"Alright, listen up everyone," Kakashi ordered once the clearing was secure. "Tsunade-sama, after she finished yelling at me in her latest letter, gave me very specific instructions on what was to happen once we returned to the village. Far too many people have seen Nanashi-kun to keep his presence a secret for much longer. The Hokage came up with a solution and a way to introduce Nanashi without revealing he'd been secretly living in the village for the past two months; one that will allow for him to remain in Naruto's care."

"What did shishou come up with sensei?" Sakura asked when Naruto didn't immediately speak up.

"I'm getting there. The first thing you need to know is that while Nanashi will be officially granted citizenship and his presence will become public record; his abilities are still considered classified. That means even breathing a single word of what you know Nanashi can do will have grave consequences. Naruto, that means you need to be extra careful whenever you take Nanashi out in public in order to avoid dragging him into a situation where he would be tempted to use his abilities in clear view of the villagers. Tsunade-sama knows it will be impossible to hide his talents forever but the longer we can keep them under wraps, the more time we will have to properly train him so that he can protect himself."

"I understand."

"Good. Tsunade-sama came to the conclusion that the only way to prevent anyone from stepping in and trying to take Nanashi-kun away from Naruto was for Nanashi to become part of Naruto's family; a distant cousin specifically. Since it is known throughout Konoha that Naruto is an orphan, Tsunade and Shizune plan to create test records that will prove the two of them are related; they will have been preparing those documents over the past week and will just need blood samples from both of you in order to add the finishing touches. Nanashi's back story is that his parents were refugees from Uzushiogakure no Sato in Uzu no Kuni and they were killed when the small family crossed paths with the pair of Akatsuki members that kidnapped the Kazekage."

"Why would they spare Nanashi though?" Tenten inquired with a frown. "If they supposedly killed his parents just because they were seen, then shouldn't they have killed him too?"

"Not necessarily," Shikamaru answered before Kakashi could reply. "Orphans are often taken by shinobi so that they could be raised as spies or weapons; this is especially true of children that are from families or clans with known Kekkei Genkai. Nanashi-kun's eye color alone is enough to hint at some unknown doujutsu; most green eyed individuals you come across usually have eyes that are more hazel than green (like Sakura's) or a shade of sea green rather than deep leaf-green or forest green."

"So we were to have saved Nanashi-kun when we rescued Gaara?" Neji asked logically.

"Correct. Nanashi's lost memory actually works in our favor, since we won't have to worry about him slipping up and revealing the lie; his captors obviously tampered with his memory in order to prevent him from rebelling against them at some point – leaving him with nothing but his name," Kakashi continued. "His lack of education can be attributed to both the memory loss and a life lived constantly on the move; his parents had been rather poor, paranoid, and too old to find a steady job."

"His surname, along with the blue Uzushio Spiral (which has been sewn onto the clothes that Tsunade sent with her letter), will be our primary reason for bringing him back to the village instead of leaving him in an orphanage in Suna. Tsunade also slipped in an old Uzushio hitai-ate that used to belong to her grandmother that she wishes for Nanashi to carry as a 'keepsake' from his parents."

"What about his lack of a chakra network?" Sakura inquired with concern.

"That is easily solved with one of Naruto's shadow clones henged to look like a jacket which can be worn over his clothes," Kakashi explained. "Any shinobi with the ability to sense chakra will contribute the similarities between the clone representing Nanashi's chakra signature and Naruto's signature to their relationship; which will further make the ruse more believable. The only ones who would not be fooled are the Hyuuga but Tsunade said she already had plans to neutralize any potential trouble makers from the clan; specifically the Hyuuga Elders. The only possible glitch in the story is the fact that Nanashi has black hair instead of red."

"How is that a problem? Naruto has blond hair," Lee pointed out with some confusion.

"The Uzumaki Clan was mostly known for their red hair, longevity, vast chakra reserves, and their creation of complex fuuinjutsu. Naruto's hair color is a rare exception; part of the reason why a large number of people don't believe that he is really part of the Uzumaki Clan. Nanashi having black hair would make people question the authenticity of both their claims to the Uzumaki name since while one exception is believable, two would be suspicious. So, we are going to bleach Nanashi's hair red; something that will have to be done regularly for several years. As he grows older, we can slowly allow his hair color to darken so that it appears that his hair turned darker over time until it is no longer necessary to bleach his hair."

"How do you know that bleaching his hair will turn it red?"

"Tsunade-sama tested a few strands of hair that she found in Naruto's bathroom and discovered that the underlying color of Nanashi's hair is actually a very dark red rather than a true black. The bleaching solution Tsunade created based upon that revelation will strip the concentration of color from Nanashi's hair and leave him a redhead; the exact shade will depend on how long we leave it in his hair. Are there any more questions? No? Then let's get busy."

Two hours later, a now redheaded and highly self-conscious Nanashi stood in the middle of the clearing while Kakashi inspected him closely. The torn orange jumpsuit he'd been wearing had been replaced with a slightly overlarge pale brown tunic that was more than a little threadbare. A large pale-blue spiral outlined with dark blue (the Uzushio Village and Uzumaki Clan symbol) was centered on the front of the tunic. The hems of the shirt had been sewn with dark blue designs that had been based upon the Uzumaki Sealing Technique (according to Tsunade's letter).

His pants were dark brown and had ragged hems where they ended several inches below Nanashi's ankles and half hid his bare feet. Around his neck, he wore the slightly rusted hitai-ate with a stylized spiral on it that attached to a frayed and faded light blue headband that Tsunade had given him. Over top of his clothes, he wore an exact copy of Naruto's orange and black tracksuit jacket that was actually one of Naruto's clones under a henge.

On his back he wore an old brown backpack that also carried the Uzushio Spiral on the top flap with the spiral design repeated on all of the zipper pulls. Inside the pack were a couple more changes of second hand clothes that had been sewn with the Uzushio Spiral design, the puppet Kankurou had made for him, and a pair of the rusty kunai that he'd found in the forest during their journey home (the latter only grudgingly as Nanashi disliked the throwing knives).

During the two hours they'd spent transforming Nanashi into a redheaded refugee, Naruto had had Nanashi repeatedly practice stating his full name, age, and birthdate. He'd also had him practice saying mother, father, and a small handful of other words that would be needed to answer the questions that he was bound to be asked by Tsunade's unwanted, unneeded, and unavoidable advisors at some point. Naruto also tried to get him to call him cousin but Nanashi's stubbornness had reared its head again and he adamantly refused to even say the word cousin once he understood what the word meant, let alone use it address Naruto.

"Acceptable," Kakashi finally declared as he finished his inspection. "Once Pakkun has confirmed the road is clear we will step out of the forest and continue on our way."

The group headed out a few minutes later, Nanashi walking at Naruto's side with his left hand firmly clinging to the black t-shirt that Naruto had been wearing beneath his jacket (the blond had taken his jacket off and sealed in a scroll to reinforce the impression that Nanashi was currently borrowing it). Naruto settled his right hand on Nanashi's back both to offer him a measure of reassurance and to prevent the six year old from bolting; the tension radiating through the kid's entire body quite obvious.

The revelation that they had a welcoming committee waiting for them sent the poor kid into a panic the moment he saw Iruka (the Chuunin had been assigned gate duty for the day), Shikaku, Inoichi, and Shizune impatiently waiting just inside of the gate. Naruto swept his ward up into his arms the moment the kid had stumbled to a stop and began backing up. Naruto did his best to reassure the kid but the less than welcoming expressions on the faces of those waiting for them weren't exactly helping (the adults were obviously irritated by something).

"Welcome back, Team Kakashi, Team Gai, and Shikamaru. Tsunade-sama is waiting for you in her office," Shizune stated the moment they stepped inside the gate after checking in with Iruka. "Naruto-kun, the Hokage has ordered that the young child you rescued during your mission submit to a series of medical and psychological tests in order to confirm that he is not a threat to the village, to assess his current health, and determine whether or not he is related to you by blood. I'll need you both to go with Shikaku and Inoichi."

"Hai, Shizune-chan," Naruto replied as he split away from the rest of the group.

Nanashi let out a soft whimper of fright when Shikaku and Inoichi each dropped a hand onto Naruto's shoulders before all four of them disappeared in a swirl of leaves. They reappeared in a second swirl of leaves inside of Inoichi's office within Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Facility where Kitou was waiting for them alongside Jiraiya. Kitou spent about ten minutes giving Nanashi a cursory check up (including a careful inspection of the mostly healed kunai wound and the faded bruising from the dislocation on his right shoulder) and drew a vial of blood from both boys (to keep up appearances) before he left the room. The moment the medic left, the Sannin immediately activated the privacy seals he'd placed about the room in order to prevent anyone from spying upon their meeting; the walls briefly flashing blue as the barrier formed.

"Mendoukusei," Shikaku groused the moment the barrier was in place as he dropped down to sit on the corner of Inoichi's desk while the head of the Yamanaka Clan sat down behind the desk. "I could almost swear you really are an Uzumaki by birth based upon the size and number of the headaches you manage to induce without actively trying, Nanashi-kun."

"Nashi not like hurt. Nashi need stay Narto. Nashi keep Narto safe."

"That's a new development; how long has he been speaking, Naruto?" Inoichi inquired while Shikaku was busy trying to analyze Nanashi's fiercely whispered statements.

"Since the moment I tried to leave him behind with Kankurou in Suna after Kakashi's ninken had tracked the Akatsuki to their base. He was very vocal in his refusal to be left behind. He believes that it is his job to protect me and that it causes him physical pain when he is not with me."

"He was in quite a bit of unexplainable pain before he disappeared," Shikaku mused thoughtfully.

"That was another problem; it didn't take him long to master that ability to transport himself. We were holed up in a cave waiting out a sandstorm in the middle of the desert less than half a day away from Suna when he popped up in the middle of camp. He even used that ability to snatch Gaara away from the Akatsuki."

"Has he shown any other new abilities?" Jiraiya asked curiously.

"A few; he can turn sand into glass, he can sense the presence of clones from several yards away, he can dispel genjutsu and possibly barriers, and…" Naruto began only to trail off when he couldn't bring himself to mention what happened when the Itachi-look-a-like failed Nanashi's test or Nanashi's ability to sense the souls of the bijuu sealed within their hosts.

"And what?" Inoichi prompted when Naruto didn't continue.

"His ability to heal is capable of far more then we originally believed; he'd flushed the poison from Kankurou when we first arrived in Suna. He also finished healing Gaara after the Akatsuki failed to finish extracting the Ichibi; bringing him back from the brink of death. Sakura had been too exhausted to fully heal Gaara and he didn't hesitate to heal what she couldn't. He's gotten better at shielding too; he's now capable of shielding others from a distance."

"That wasn't what you were originally going to say," Shikaku bluntly stated as he narrowed his eyes at the teen. "What is it you are trying to hide?"

"Does it have anything to do with the corpse that had Tsunade and Shizune all up in arms?" Jiraiya pointedly asked right on the heels of Shikaku's question.

Naruto couldn't help wincing in response to Jiraiya's question and he knew that he had no choice but to answer both men despite his desire to hide that knowledge from everyone in order to protect his ward. Sighing, Naruto dropped his chin down onto Nanashi's head and hugged him close as he reluctantly answered, "Hai, Ero-Sennin; the man failed Nanashi-kun's soul weighing test. From what was said by the Akatsuki member I fought against alongside of Lee, Neji, and Tenten, whatever Nanashi did to the man affected three of the members that were performing the jutsu to extract the Ichibi; one of which was Itachi, which was the face the dead man was wearing when Nanashi-kun weighed him. He is also able to sense the presence of a bijuu within a Jinchuuriki."

"Do you know why the man failed the test?" Jiraiya demanded at the same time as Shikaku asked, "How can he sense the presence of a clone or the bijuu if he himself doesn't have any chakra?"

"I don't know," Naruto answered in reply to both questions.

"Nanashi-kun, can you tell me how you know if there is a Bunshin nearby?" Shikaku asked the six year old, all traces of laziness disappearing as he focused on the child.

"Dead not dead have no souls."

"That's right, he spoke of Gaara and I both having two souls inside of us," Naruto added as he recalled what Nanashi had said when Naruto had asked him why he was so fascinated by Gaara. "I think he even knew that the Ichibi had been almost completely drained of chakra during the attempted extraction; he'd said something about the second soul being empty."

"He has the ability to sense a person's soul without the need to meet their gaze?" Inoichi asked in mild surprise.

"I suspect he can sense a person's chakra on some level as well; otherwise, he wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a clone and a tree," Shikaku added as he stroked his goatee and pursed his lips as he continued to study Nanashi.

"Most likely; given that he can sense both the presence of the clone and the fact that it is not actually alive. And since the clones are not actually alive they would not have a soul inside of them," Jiraiya deduced. "That's a rather handy ability."

"Anything else you can tell us about his new abilities?"

"Well, his transportation technique seemed to take a lot of energy out of him the first time he used it. It didn't tire him out anywhere near as badly if he was flashing just a few feet away though and the sound he makes when he disappears wasn't as loud. When he transported Gaara with him, on the other hand, the sound was much louder. I don't know how much it took out of him though because he'd still been recovering from the failed test, uncovering a hidden tunnel into the Akatsuki base, and shielding myself and Lee a couple of times from some rather large explosions."

"Aside from his newly revealed abilities, what other things did you observe about Nanashi during the time he was with you out of the village?"

"He's rather uncomfortable around crowds and far less willing to speak or explore if there are more than a handful of people around him. He's still very particular about who he lets touch him. Out of everyone new he met since joining us on the way to Suna; he was most taken with Gaara. Once he was comfortable enough around Team Gai and before we met back up with a contingent of Suna shinobi, Nanashi spent hours exploring the forest around us as we traveled; constantly asking what everything was each time he found something new. After we joined up with the Suna shinobi he didn't speak another word until long after we left Suna."

Naruto paused a moment before continuing, "Now that he's started speaking it's obvious that he doesn't know that many words. It's hard to understand him sometimes and because he leaves out so many words, it's easy to make a mistake in figuring out what he is saying. That's what happened when our fight with the clay user first started; he had asked me two questions."

"He only used two words in each sentence though; asking 'red friend?' and 'save friend?' and at the time I just thought he was asking if Gaara was my friend and if I was going to save him. I told him yes and the next thing I know he transported himself right to Gaara, who was being held captive by the clay user, and then he transported Gaara right out of the mouth of the clay bird that had been holding him. He'd been asking me if I wanted _him_ to save Gaara but I didn't realize it at the time and when I'd answered yes he'd done it without any hesitation."

"That's also how we ended up learning that he actually does know his birthday. We've only ever asked him when his birthday is and he always shook his head no because he didn't know what the word birthday meant; not because he didn't know what day his birthday was on. When I asked him what day he was born he answered immediately with; July thirty-first, nineteen-eighty."

"Anything else you can think of?" Shikaku asked when Naruto trailed off for a moment.

"No… wait there are a couple of things; I've noticed that the more he uses an ability the easier it becomes for him to use it the next time," Naruto replied as he lifted his chin off Nanashi's bleached red hair and turned his gaze down to study his ward. "He was also fascinated by Gaara's ability to manipulate sand and he spent hours trying to control his own bit of sand; that's what led to him turning sand to glass. I don't think he's given up on the idea of controlling the sand either. And lastly, I think he's frightened of large bodies of water because he became terrified when he realized that we were standing on top of the river and he completely panicked when we were knocked into the water at one point."

"So, you actually learned quite a bit in the short time he was out of the village with you," Jiraiya mused. "It also sounds like his Kekkei Genkai responds instinctively when under pressure; adapting and expanding as needed."

"I guess," Naruto replied with a shrug.

"Is there something bothering you, Naruto?" Inoichi asked in concern as he leaned forward to inspect the blond a moment. "You've been rather… tense and hesitant since you arrived."

"I… I'm worried. The Akatsuki saw Nanashi and saw enough of what happened to that guy that was pretending to be Itachi that they are interested in him. The clay user nearly managed to take him from me because he'd tricked me by disguising a pair of his clay clones to look like me and I'd let them get close because I thought they were my shadow clones. If not for Nanashi's shielding and transportation abilities, I'd have lost him and been seriously injured in the explosion when the second clone blew up while it was holding me. How can I protect him if I can't even tell the difference between my shadow clones and an enemy clone henged to look like me? How do I keep him safe if he refuses to stay home when I go on missions?"

"The news about the Akatsuki being interested in him is disturbing but not the end of the world. They also don't know the full extent of his abilities; heck we don't even know the full extent of his abilities. The fact that both of the members you faced during the mission were killed means that the remaining members won't have learned anything else from that fight," Shikaku pointed out logically.

"As for being able to distinguish a henged clone from one of your own without dispelling the henge or destroying the clone; there are few people who have that kind of ability. Beating yourself up about a mistake you made during the heat of the battle is pointless; learn from the mistake and move on. I'm sure you would have found a way to get the gaki back if he hadn't done it himself," Inoichi added with a shrug.

"Why exactly can't he stay in Konoha when you are out on missions?" Jiraiya asked in confusion.

"No make Nashi stay," Nanashi practically growled as his fingers tightened on Naruto's shirt and he swung his head around to glare at the white haired Sannin. "Nashi go Narto. Nashi need stay Narto. Nashi need keep Narto safe. Nashi not stay. Hurt Nashi not stay Narto. Nashi not like burn."

"And that is why I can't leave him, Ero-Sennin; he won't let me and I can't stop him from flashing to my side if I try to leave him behind," Naruto sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. "Could you imagine what would happen if he were to flash to me in the middle of a fight? Or if I was crossing a large river on foot and he was too far away for me to catch before he fell into the water?"

"Mendoukusei," Shikaku muttered as he ran a hand across his face.

"Why don't you have a seat, Naruto-kun," Inoichi suggested after a few minutes. "We still need to hear the full details of the mission and a clearer description of the fight you participated in with one of the Akatsuki members. Any more information you can supply about Nanashi-kun's new abilities would be appreciated as well; such as what triggered the new ability and whether the control is conscious or unconscious."

"Hai," Naruto murmured as he complied.

Over the next three hours, the blond relayed everything he could remember about everything that had taken place from the moment they'd left the village; the three adults occasionally asking a question or two for clarification. After the first hour, Nanashi finally relaxed his death grip on Naruto's shirt. After the second, the kid slipped down off Naruto's lap to hesitantly explore Inoichi's office; carefully avoiding the three adults. After the third hour, near the end of Naruto's report, Nanashi finally worked up the courage to creep up beside Shikaku though he still wasn't close enough for the man to pick him up or touch him.

"… and the moment we were close enough to see the walls of Konoha, Nanashi fell silent and grew nervous. He didn't like having his hair bleached but he didn't fuss or fight us and he seemed happy enough with the color once the ordeal was over. We had him practice stating his name, birthday, and age so that if he is asked those questions he will answer properly though he still tends to speak in clipped sentences. The only thing I can't figure out is why he seemed so scared of returning to the village; I thought he'd be happy to be back so he could visit the deer. And he almost bolted the moment he saw you guys standing at the gate."

Naruto slumped back in his chair as he finished speaking, letting his eyes fall closed for a moment. His brain more than a little fried from having to dredge up every little detail that he could remember about the mission in addition to Nanashi's skills and behavior. He immediately sat up and focused on his ward when the kid spoke up in response to his final statements though.

"Nashi fear. Nashi not want… not want… Nashi not know word. Nashi told stay. Nashi not stay. Nashi need go. Nashi bad," Nashi stated, his voice dropping to a soft whisper by the time he finished. The kid then glanced worriedly at Naruto before he focused intently on Shikaku as he nervously asked, "You mad Nashi? You send Nashi way now?"

"No, I'm not mad at you Nanashi-kun. I was worried that something would happen to you when you disappeared. I was afraid you might be hurt," Shikaku answered without any hesitation. "And I would never send you away; even if you did do something that made me mad. I might make you do chores, stand in the corner for a few minutes, or not let you help me feed the deer once in a while as punishment for getting in trouble but I would never send you away."

Naruto could see the last of Nanashi's tension melt away as the kid held Shikaku's gaze for a moment before he crossed the remaining distance separating him from one of his favorite adults. Naruto felt himself relax knowing that his ward was in good hands as he watched the kid deftly climb up Shikaku's legs so he could cuddle up against the man's deer skin jacket. Sometimes, Naruto swore that the kid liked that jacket far more than he actually liked the man wearing the jacket.

"I guess that explains his apprehension over returning to Konoha. He was afraid he was going to be in big trouble for sneaking off when he was told to stay," Jiraiya concluded with a soft chuckle. "It's actually refreshing to see him behave normally for a child his age for once."

"Nashi not normal. Nashi not like normal. Normal not like Nashi. Nashi just fine Nashi. Nashi not need normal. Nashi have Narto. Narto all Nashi need."

All three adults immediately began chuckling over Nanashi's implication that Naruto wasn't normal either while Naruto blushed as he grumbled under his breath; he couldn't deny the truth in Nanashi's statement though – he'd never been normal either. Inoichi and Jiraiya asked a few more questions while Shikaku spent a few minutes doting on Nanashi before the Sennin dropped the privacy barrier and the five of them headed to the Hokage's Office.

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**Translations:** Japanese to English

Bijuu – tailed beasts/demons  
Ero-Sennin – pervy sage  
Hai – yes  
Mendoukusei – how troublesome, what a drag, or this sucks  
Narto – Nanashi's butchering of Naruto's name  
Shishou – master  
Uzu no Kuni – Whirlpool Country  
Uzushiogakure no Sato – Hidden Whirling Tides Village

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**AN:** _The next chapter will provide a bit of background on Harry/Nanashi's story, for those of you who are chomping at the bit and wondering what the heck is going on. It won't provide all of the answers but it will provide some. For those of you who are annoyed by Nanashi's speech patterns (yes, I'm speaking to the Grammar Nazies), please be patient, he will not speak like that forever; however, I'm trying to make his speech progression a little more realistic than the instant fix most FanFics employ, so it will take a couple of chapters. ~ Jenn  
_


	11. Of Clans and Death

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _Mentions of character death, angst and drama, mild to moderate violence, mature content (foul language & mentions of alcohol), and AU._ _Child!Harry, Powerful!Harry, Intelligent!Harry, NOTstupid!Naruto, Powerful!Naruto, and Protective!Naruto. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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**Chapter 10: Of Clans and Death**

_October 03, 1986, All Day  
Konohagakure, Hi no Kuni_

Before they entered the Hokage's office, Naruto heard Shikaku softly instructed Nanashi not to speak unless he was asked a question and to not use any of his abilities. Nanashi agreed, reluctantly, and Naruto hoped that the kid would actually follow the man's directions. Although, to be fair, Nanashi followed instructions really well most of the time; providing he understood what he was being asked to do, didn't feel threatened, wasn't being asked to stay behind, and as long Naruto wasn't being attacked. Mentally keeping his fingers crossed and hoping for the best, Naruto followed Inoichi, Jiraiya, and Shikaku into the office (the Head of the Nara Clan still carrying Nanashi in his arms) where Tsunade and Kakashi were both waiting for them.

"Perfect timing," Tsunade declared as she glanced up the moment they entered. "I was just about to send for the lot of you. Inoichi; what were you able to discern through the boy's memories?"

"Not much, Hokage-sama; someone went through a considerable amount of trouble to remove or destroy the majority of the child's memories, leaving him with very little aside from his name," Inoichi replied and Naruto got the feeling that the adults were putting on a show for someone; since this was all information they'd all already been aware of. "I found no traces of further tampering and the boy's mind was free of any types of traps or seals. In my honest opinion, the child is not a threat to Konoha."

"Good. Shikaku; what was your assessment?"

"Why were we not informed that there was a meeting being held about an unknown entity that had been brought into the village, Tsunade?" a heavily bandaged man demanded as he hobbled into the room along side a man wearing glasses and a woman that looked like she was half asleep; all three of them beyond ancient in Naruto's eyes. "As your advisors, we should have been contacted immediately."

Naruto recognized all three individuals; he had seen them quite often during his younger years when he had spent a considerable amount of time in this very office with the Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, before he'd graduated from the academy. The bandaged man was Shimura Danzou (Sarutobi's rather creepy rival), the woman was Utatane Koharu, and the man in glasses was Mitokado Homura (the latter two both Sarutobi's former teammates). Koharu and Homura were both rather unpleasant but Danzou was a right bastard; all three of them had always seemed to have it out for Naruto for as long as he could remember, Danzou in particular.

Upon their arrival, Naruto realized that the 'show' had been staged for the trio of so called advisors. That realization made him wonder what else was going on since he couldn't think of any reason why Danzou or the others would be all that interested in Nanashi unless they already knew what he could do. That, of course, had the blond narrowing his eyes as he recalled the terrible state in which he'd found Nanashi when he'd returned to the village. He knew that Danzou was obsessed with turning kids into weapons; the man had tried to get his hands on Naruto so he could do just that.

Naruto's attention was called back to the present when Shikaku lazily drawled, "I did not realize that your duties included treading upon clan business."

"Clan business? What would an outsider, who is reportedly an orphan, have to do with clan business? And exactly which of Konoha's great clans would this foreign entity be associating with when he is a complete unknown?" Utatane inquired imperiously.

"Why does it matter what clan is involved?" Inoichi blandly countered as he casually shifted his body; purposefully blocking the trio's view of Nanashi in Shikaku's arms. "Clan business is clan business after all; not a matter for public record."

"I don't know what kind of games you are playing but we will not stand for you allowing a potential threat into the village under the guise of labeling said threat clan business," Danzou warned as he scanned the room with his one good eye; his gaze lingering on Naruto in distaste before he returned his glare to Tsunade.

"There is no threat; the individual in question has already been interrogated and tested," Tsunade snapped as she slapped her hand down on her desk; her voice rising in anger over the thinly veiled accusation Danzou had leveled at her. "And if you really must know the clan in question is the Uzumaki Clan. Thank you for your concern; now kindly get the hell out of my office so I can finish my _private_ meeting with the Head of the Uzumaki Clan."

"I don't think so; everyone knows that Uzumaki is an orphan," Mitokado interjected as he entered the conversation for the first time since entering the office.

"We're well aware of Naruto's status as an orphan and I'm sure it will put your mind at ease to know that there have been no unknown adults crawling out of the woodwork or rising from the dead making an attempt to claim him as their son to date. Rather heartless of you to so crassly bring up such a sensitive topic in front of five clan heads in a meeting that the three of you were most certainly not invited to."

"Five? Have you been hitting the bottle again, Tsunade?" Danzou inquired as he glanced around the room a second time.

"Maybe it is time for you to retire, Danzou," Tsunade fired back with a mock look of concern. "Senility in a shinobi of your age is dangerous and losing the ability to count is a grave concern. Since it would appear that you currently do not have full control of your mental facilities, allow me to set the record straight. I am over seeing this meeting as both Hokage and as the Head of the Senju Clan."

"Yamanaka Inoichi is here as both an Interrogation Specialist and as Head of the Yamanaka Clan. Nara Shikaku is here in his official capacity as the Commander of the Jounin Forces and as Head of the Nara Clan. Uzumaki Naruto is here as the newly instated Head of the Uzumaki Clan. Hatake Kakashi is here as Naruto's direct supervisor, as a witness, and in his capacity as the Head of the Hatake Clan. And Jiraiya is here due to his status as Naruto's godfather and to act as a second witness and scribe."

"There is no Uzumaki Clan," Utatane insisted as she scowled at Naruto. "One teen barely out of childhood does not make a clan and even if it did it; he is far too young to assume the headship of a clan. In which case, a proper regent shall be appointed to run the clan until such time as the boy has been proven capable of running a clan."

"Funny you of all people should say that," Naruto practically growled through gritted teeth as he fought to keep his temper under control. "Considering that _you_ three made Uchiha Sasuke the Head of the Uchiha Clan when he was _eight_ years old after Itachi killed the rest of the clan. As I recall, _Sasuke_, was afforded a large number of special privileges due to _his_ status as the _last_ remaining Uchiha within the village. I should know, the teme took great pleasure in rubbing his status in my face every chance he got. Why should the Uzumaki Clan receive anything less than the Uchiha Clan? Or was the Uchiha Clan above the petty rules that you wish to heap on the Uzumaki Clan?"

Nanashi made his presence known at that point as he slipped down out of Shikaku's arms, dashed up to Naruto's side, and wrapped his arms around the teen's leg. Naruto heard more than one sharp breath being taken as all three advisors took in the true Uzumaki Spiral on Nanashi's backpack (pale blue instead of red like those worn by Konoha's shinobi forces) and his bright red hair. Reaching down, Naruto lifted the troubled six year old into his arms and settled him on his hip which allowed the three ancient shinobi a clear glimpse of the worn and rusted hitai-ate tired around the kid's neck until the kid buried his face against Naruto's shoulder.

"Naruto was conditionally emancipated at age six by order of the Sandaime Hokage after he was kicked out of the orphanage under suspicious circumstances," Jiraiya drawled from where he'd been sitting on the windowsill. "He was considered a legal adult the moment he earned his hitai-ate at age twelve and was registered as a Genin of Konoha the day he was placed on Team Seven as per the village's charter as written by the Shodai Hokage. And he will be sixteen in less than seven days; you have no legal grounds upon which to revoke his headship over his clan regardless of his age or the number of members in said clan. As mere advisors to the Hokage; the three of you have no place in this meeting."

"What proof do you have that Naruto is an Uzumaki by birth?" Mitokado demanded; all three advisors not yet willing to admit that they'd been outmaneuvered.

"You mean aside from the classified scrolls that I _know_ the Sandaime allowed the three of you to view?" Tsunade asked sweetly as she reached out to lift a folder from her desk. "Less than an hour ago, I received the results of the blood test that was run on Uzumaki Naruto and the child that was found during his previous mission which was in turn compared to the samples on file for Uzumaki Kushina _and _Uzumaki Mito. Needless to say, the results confirm that not only is Naruto related to said child; he is a direct descendant of Uzumaki Kushina and a distant relative of Uzumaki Mito."

"That information is classified…" Danzou heatedly began to state.

"You should have thought about that before you insisted upon barging in on Clan Business," Tsunade snapped back as she slammed the folder back down on her desk. "Your insistence in sticking your noses in places they don't belong and demanding answers you have no right to allowed me to freely speak of the matter. Now that the matter of Naruto's validity in claiming his headship has been needlessly confirmed; I suggest you leave."

Danzou narrowed his eye as Utatane and Mitokado both bowed in irritation and slunk out of the room. The crippled man then slowly retreated from the office, only pausing long enough to retort, "This is not over."

"Yes it is; or I will personally drag your miserable old hide to Ibiki in order to ascertain _your_ intentions towards this village and its clans," Tsunade threatened in return.

"He's not going to let this go, hime," Jiraiya softly warned once the trio had left the room. He then took a moment to activate the privacy seals he'd set up in the room days earlier in preparation for this day. "I still say sensei was a fool for ever trusting that man enough to give him even an ounce of power."

"Narto…?"

"Nani, Nanashi-kun?"

"Nashi not like…"

"So, the gaki really has started talking?" Tsunade mused in mild surprise as she unintentionally cut the child off. "I was half certain Kakashi and the others were yanking my chain."

"Hai; he's been talking a little bit more each day though he tends to fall silent when he's surrounded by people he doesn't know. What is it you don't like, Nanashi-kun?"

"Nashi not like man."

"Which man don't you like?" Shikaku inquired curiously.

"Nashi not like walk bad man. Nashi not like eyes. Eyes not right. Too many eyes. Too many dead souls. Dead souls hurt. Dead souls not like walk bad man. Dead souls want sleep."

"Dead souls? What is that supposed to mean? What do dead souls have to do with eyes? And why exactly is he talking about souls in the first place?" Tsunade repeated in confusion.

"We have reason to believe that Nanashi-kun can sense the presence of a person's soul without needing to meet their eyes in addition to sensing their chakra signature on some level," Shikaku replied. "According to Naruto's report, Nanashi identified a hidden clone that was spying on them as well as a clone based trap tied to the barrier seal that had been put up over the entrance of the Akatsuki's base where they found Gaara. Something that is fairly easy to believe since the child has always been able to tell the difference between Naruto and Naruto's shadow clones; even when he did not see Naruto create said clones."

"He also knew about both the Ichibi in Gaara and the Kyuubi in me even though I'm pretty certain that no one ever mentioned anything about the bijuu in front of him."

"That still doesn't explain the dead souls he spoke of. Nor does it tell me who the 'walk bad man' is supposed to be."

"If I had to hazard a guess, the 'walk bad man' would be Danzou because he walks with a permanent limp due to the injuries he'd received in the Third Great Shinobi War," Shikaku offered before anyone else could speak up. "The only thing that doesn't make sense is why he'd think Danzou had too many eyes when he lost his right eye during the same attack that injured his leg."

"Walk bad man hide eyes. Walk bad man take dead eyes. Dead not like. Dead souls mad. Dead souls want sleep."

"I'm getting a headache. Shikaku, when you figure out what it is he is trying to say; let me know. In the mean time, we need to finalize the paperwork to reestablish the Uzumaki Clan within the walls of Konoha."

"Tsunade-baachan, is it true what you said? Am I really related to someone named Kushina? Or were you just saying that to shut the nosy old biddies and the creepy teme up?"

Tsunade studied him for a moment before she closed her eyes and let out a soft sigh as she softly confirmed, "Hai, Uzumaki Kushina was your mother. The reason the Sandaime didn't tell you before he died was because it would have been dangerous for you if anyone had found out she was your mother due to who she was and who she married. Both of your parents had a lot of enemies who would have had no qualms about torturing and killing you. A few of them have probably died over the years but there are still more than enough alive today that spreading the information of who your parents were to the general public would carry a great risk. Your ward would be especially vulnerable, considering that he will be publicly linked to you from this point forward."

"Jijii lied to me," Naruto choked out. "I asked him… more than once I asked him if he knew who my parents were and he looked me right in the eye and lied to me."

"And what would you have done if he'd told you who they were?" Kakashi gently demanded.

"I would have… I would have told everyone I saw who they were to prove I wasn't just some no-name orphan," Naruto admitted as his anger fled as quickly as it appeared.

"Sensei was only trying to protect you and if he had lived, then he probably would have told you himself the moment he felt you could protect yourself and once you were mature enough to not go crowing their identities to the entire village at the top of your lungs," Tsunade pointed out. "I trust I don't need to tell you that you need to be careful who speak to about your mother, ne?"

"I'll be careful. Ano… can you tell me who my father is? Please? I hated not knowing when I was growing up."

"I can and I will but not right this moment. Once the commotion surrounding the resurrection of the Uzumaki Clan has died down; we can sit down somewhere private and I can tell you all about both of your parents."

"I'd really like that, baachan, and it's more than jijii ever promised."

"Then let us get down to business."

By the time they'd finished completing the paperwork to establish the Uzumaki Clan; Naruto was seriously wondering if it was the paperwork that had driven Sasuke insane and desperate enough to flee the village in search of Orochimaru. The fifteen, nearly sixteen, year old couldn't believe the sheer amount of forms he'd had to fill out and he couldn't even begin to imagine how much worse it would have been if he'd been forced to go through all of that at age eight. The only reason the blond didn't balk over the mind numbing task was due to the warm body contentedly curled up in his lap. He'd do anything to protect Nanashi; even face the evils of paperwork.

The teen was more than a little shocked to find that his inheritance from his mother had been held in trust for him by the Sandaime and any lingering anger he might have felt over Sarutobi's well meaning lies faded as he realized the old man had protected that inheritance from being stolen from him (as well as done his best to protect him). There was a savings account that held a modest fortune (it was nothing spectacular but there was more than enough money to buy a small house if he wished), a small library that had been sealed into a storage scroll, some jewelry, and his mother's katana.

There had been a house but it had been destroyed during the Kyuubi's attack and the property left vacant once the debris had been cleared away. Anything that had survived the destruction (a handful of furniture, a box or two of shuriken, and a few other odds and ends) had been sealed into a storage scroll that had also been set aside for Naruto. Naruto had actually been using that property for years; the Sandaime had shown it to him when he was first accepted into the academy and told him that he could use the small patch of land as his own private training ground. Naruto now knew why he'd been allowed to use that particular piece of land and only wished he'd known it had belonged to his mother at the time as it had been a refuge of sorts when the village's hate got to him because even that small connection to his family would have given him comfort.

Naruto also learned that the Sandaime had owned the entire apartment building that he'd moved Naruto into after he'd been kicked out of the orphanage and that the man had left the deed to the entire complex to Naruto in his will. That had been Sarutobi's way of making certain that Naruto would always have a place to live and while the building was not in the best of conditions; it was home. Knowing he could do what he wanted with the building now that he knew he owned it (there were no tenants aside from himself), Naruto decided to keep the complex instead of purchasing a house or having one built on the property that had belonged to his mother. A little renovation would turn it into the perfect estate for his small clan of two.

Once the clan business had been attended to, they discussed the recent mission. Thankfully, because Tsunade had already heard most of the details from Team Kakashi and Team Gai, Naruto only had to clarify a few points and give a report on what he'd learned about the Akatsuki during the mission (which hadn't been much other than that he hated explosions). He also had to give her a detailed update on Nanashi's newly uncovered abilities; something the teen had done with great reluctance.

"One last thing and then the two of you are free to go," Tsunade stated as she pulled out a scrap of paper and held it up so that Naruto could see the symbol that had been drawn on it. "What can you tell me about this symbol?"

"That was what was burnt onto the chest of the man that failed Nanashi's test."

"That's it? You can't tell me what it stands for or why it was on the man's body?"

"I don't know what it is or what it means. All I know is that it appeared after Nanashi… after the man failed the test."

"That doesn't help me," Tsunade groused irritably. "It's similar enough to the symbol of Jashin to be mistaken for it; which is not a good thing because Jashin is the god of destruction and death. Followers of Jashinism are well known for the ritualistic murders they commit in the name of their god; an evil cult with evil intentions. If people see Nanashi using this symbol, they will automatically assume that he is a member of that cult and seek to harm him."

"Death not evil. Death not hate. Death not bad," Nanashi solemnly stated as his eyes zeroed in on the ominous symbol drawn on the paper. "Death let dead souls sleep. Death… Death… Nashi not know word."

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" Inoichi inquired curiously as he glanced between Nanashi and the slip of paper.

"Nashi know Death. Nashi not fear Death. Death… Death not friend… Death more. Death do Nashi say. Death not mind. Death like Nashi. Nashi help dead souls sleep. Nashi help souls. Nashi… Nashi not know word."

"Shikaku; can you translate that?" Tsunade demanded as she stared at Nanashi.

"It sounds like he's speaking of death as if it is another person; a person that Nanashi knows and does not fear. Someone who is more than a friend to the child and who apparently willingly does what Nanashi tells him to do because that person is fond of the child," Shikaku hypothesized as he tugged on his goatee and studied the child who was still staring at the paper holding the symbol. "The last bit could mean that Nanashi helps the dead rest in peace and he somehow helps all souls."

"Death as a person; do you think he's talking about the shinigami?" Jiraiya asked.

"It's possible; we'd have to wait until Nanashi has a better grasp of the language before we could ask him though," Shikaku agreed with a lazy nod.

"Nanashi-kun, who is death?" Naruto asked softly when Tsunade had let out an impatient huff.

"Narto want meet Death? Nashi call Death. Death meet Narto."

Before Naruto could ask him what he meant, Nanashi had clapped his hands together in front of his chest (as if he was praying) and the sound shot through the office like a firecracker. Everyone jumped at the unexpectedly loud sound before they stiffened in concern as the temperature in the room plunged rapidly enough that ice crystals began growing over every surface in the room. The adults in the room immediately went on alert as an eerie black shadow began forming right behind the chair that Naruto and Nanashi were sitting in.

Naruto slowly turned his head to see what everyone was staring at and froze at what he saw. The shadows had solidified into an unnaturally tall being that was wearing a black cloak made up entirely of dense black fog that seemed to suck the light right out of the room. The person's face was completely hidden from sight due to the cowl it wore over its head. In its right hand the being held the shaft of a scythe that was over a foot taller than the being. The only visible part of its body, the hand holding the scythe, appeared to be nothing more than bones that were held together by a thin layer of translucent skin that had been stretched so tight it clung to the contours of the bones.

Everything about the mysterious figure screamed danger to the shinobi in the room.

Nanashi slipped down off of Naruto's lap before the teen could stop him and his ward dashed right up to the imposing figure without an ounce of fear. Naruto half rose out of his chair and voiced a noise of protest when the being let go of the scythe (the weapon vanishing the moment it was released) and reached down to lift Nanashi from the floor. The being stared at the child for several long minutes before it glanced up to study each of the shinobi in turn; weighing each one of them much like Nanashi had the moment they invaded his personal space.

"Who are you?" Tsunade demanded in a tone that was just barely respectful the moment she found her voice.

"_I am Death_," the being rasped in a deep gravely voice that sent shivers down Naruto's back. The being then refocused his gaze on Nanashi as he stated, "_It is no wonder I had not been able to find your soul after you disappeared; far too much has been stolen from you, Master. I had hoped to take you home when I finally found you but I can see now that it would be pointless to do so for you would be unable to protect yourself as you are now. Had I known the Fates would curse you with their blessing when the Ungrateful struck; I would have warned you and kept a closer eye on your soul._"

"Death need meet Narto," Nanashi interjected as he wiggled down out of Death's embrace before he fearlessly snagged hold of the being's skeletal hand and dragged him forward until they were standing right beside Naruto. "Narto this Death. Death this U-zu-ma-ki Na-ru-to. Narto friend Nashi. Narto save Nashi. Nashi keep Narto safe now. Narto give Nashi new name. Nashi U-zu-ma-ki now."

"_Uzumaki? I know that name_," Death intoned as he once again lifted Nanashi up into his arms while he intently studied Naruto. "_You were touched by prophecy and death upon your birth. Despite the hardships you have faced, your soul is still filled with an abundance of innocence and love. Knowing that, I can see why my master would inevitably be drawn to you._"

"Who exactly are you and why do you keep referring to the child as your master?" Shikaku inquired; his eyes never wavering from the child contentedly nestled in the intimidating being's arms.

"**I am guide and guardian to the dead souls. I am both feared and welcomed by all living beings. I am the Reaper of Souls. I am Lord of the Underworld. I am **_**Death**_," Death declared in a booming voice that echoed through the room several times before fading. When he next spoke, his voice was once more a gravely rasp that only inspired fear instead of the sheer terror brought forth by the power that had laced his voice just seconds earlier.

"_As to your second question; the child represents Balance and I am merely a servant of Balance. However, my master was not always the child you see before you now. The Fates must have thought it a kindness to give back the years that Destiny and Chaos stole from my master during his first lifetime before they sent him here. Or they merely wished for his lifetime to match up with the timeline here to prevent him from standing out more than he normally does._"

"Who exactly is the child? Where did he come from? Why does he have no memory of who he was?" Tsunade asked; the frustration in her voice over the continued mysteries surrounding the child plain as day.

"_Who he was and where he is from is of no consequence; that part of him is forever lost. As to why he has no memory of who he was, those in power in the world into which he was born feared him and his abilities; so they sought to dispose of him. They first broke him by killing his family in front of him and then they tried to kill him. When they failed to end his life, they chose instead to destroy all that made him the man he once was by destroying all of his memories and even in that they failed; Balance must be maintained, after all, and for every loss there must be an equal gain and since they only sought to take and not give, their attempt to completely unmake my master failed._"

"Is there any way you can give him back his memories? To give him back even a small part of what was lost?" Naruto asked out of concern for his ward.

"_I can not; doing so would upset the Balance. Do not weep for what my master has lost, Uzumaki, for he has found something of equal value in return. I am, however, allowed to give him three gifts to balance the weight of what was stolen from him_," Death replied as he adjusted his arms to place the palm of his skeletal hand against Nanashi's heart. "_The first gift is for his body; the blood of the Uzumaki to replace the wand that was destroyed when he fought for the lives of his family. A family gained for a family lost._"

Death removed his hand from the boy's heart and placed it on top of the boy's head as he continued, "_The second gift is for his mind; the intellect of the Nara to replace the stone that was lost to the flames that consumed his home. An eidetic memory to fill the holes that were left behind by the memories destroyed._" Death then shifted his hand one last time to press a single bony finger to the lightning bolt scar on Nanashi's forehead as he added, "_And the third and final gift is for his soul; the heart and will of the Senju to replace the cloak that was stolen from him by the one that had betrayed him to his enemies. New talents received in place of old talents stolen._"

Nanashi scowled and batted the hand away before he reached up and rubbed at the scar; as if Death's touch had irritated the scar. The six year old then wriggled out of Death's arms and sought refuge with Naruto as he continued to hold his palm against the scar. Naruto would have scowled at the intimidating being as well if he wasn't far more concerned with making certain that there was nothing wrong with his ward.

"Can you please explain what you meant when you said the gaki represents balance and what you were referring to when you said something about the world he was born into? Were you implying that he was not born somewhere within the Elemental Nations?" Jiraiya inquired while the others were subtly inspecting the child for evidence of the 'gifts' he'd supposedly just been given.

"_There are an endless number of other worlds that exist outside of this world. My master was born into one such world before he was torn from that world and the life he had made for himself and sent here to this world. To answer your other question, the child is Balance personified; he is the scale that measures and maintains the balance between life and death, light and dark, love and hate, positive and negative, innocence and corruption, and any other opposing forces you could name that affect a person's soul._"

"_The day he shouldered the mantle of Balance, he was blessed with a number of abilities that allow him to protect and heal in addition to those that can destroy and kill. There are other abilities with which he was born but most of those were stripped from him at the same time as his memories. He will need to relearn how to control the small number of inborn abilities that he retained; something I can sense that he has already started doing._"

"Is there anything else you can tell us about his past? Such as why Nanashi-kun believes it is his duty to protect Naruto and why he insists that being separated from Naruto causes him physical pain?" Shikaku fished out of a genuine desire to help Nanashi. "It would also help to know more about these inborn abilities you spoke of and what the gifts you gave to the child will encompass; if only so we will know what to expect and can therefore help him learn how to master them."

"_Nanashi? Yes, I can see why that name would be appealing to my master; his greatest desire had always been for everyone to forget his name_," Death stated with a soft grating laugh that made the shinobi shiver and twitch. "_In regards to his inborn abilities, there is not much that I can tell you; I do not know which abilities he still retains and which ones were forever lost to him. I only know that he lost more than half of those abilities. I can, on the other hand, offer a small explanation for each of the gifts that I have bestowed upon him._"

"_The Uzumaki blood I gifted him gave him an honest claim to the Uzumaki name; my master is now somewhere between a brother and a cousin to Uzumaki and as such will gain those Uzumaki Clan traits and abilities that are compatible with his magic so long as they don't disrupt the Balance of this world or the Universe at large. One example would be the Uzumaki longevity and vitality enhancing his natural healing ability and adding years to his lifespan. There will also be no need for you to artificially maintain his new hair color as my gift will have changed his hair color to red by bringing out the genes he inherited from his mother._"

"_The boost I gave to his mental capabilities could potentially put him on par with the intelligence of the Nara; providing he makes the effort to use that which he has been given. My master has always been rather clever but he was driven to hide that intelligence in order to survive and therefore did not reach his full potential during his first lifetime. If he can be properly motivated and if you can convince my master that he does not need to fear showing his true intellectual capabilities, then his mind will flourish._"

"_Finally, in gifting his soul the will and heart of the Senju, I granted him the traits and abilities of the Senju Clan in much the same way I granted him the abilities of the Uzumaki Clan; though he does not have a blood link to the Senju like he does to the Uzumaki. The rules dictating which abilities he gains are the same as for those that he gains from the Uzumaki blood that now flows through his veins. An example would be my master's respect for all living creatures expanding to include all of nature and morphing into more of an empathic ability rather than just a personal choice as it had been in the past._"

"And the reason he feels he has to protect Naruto-kun?" Shikaku prompted when Death did not answer that question the first time he asked it.

"_My master is a creature of magic and as such he is bound by laws older than time itself. If Uzumaki unselfishly saved my master's life without expecting a reward in return; then my master will owe Uzumaki a true Life Debt. My master's life will therefore be bound to Uzumaki until such time as Magic deems the Debt repaid._"

"All I did was stop the dog that had attacked him; it's what any descent person would have done," Naruto quietly stated as he finally finished inspecting Nanashi and lifted his gaze to glance up at Death.

"Don't forget you also took him into your home and took care of his wounds yourself when the Hospital refused to treat him. It was also your quick thinking in alerting Tsunade-sama that allowed his older wounds and the infection to be treated," Kakashi pointed out with an eye smile. "Then there is the fact that you willingly accepted responsibility for him without any hesitation; providing him with food, clothing, and a roof over his head in addition to offering him comfort and affection. All without knowing anything about him aside from the fact that he was injured and alone and all without asking for anything in return. There are, after all, several ways in which a person can be saved aside from just preventing their death."

"That still doesn't explain why spending time apart would cause the child pain," Inoichi pointedly interjected. "Nor does it shed any light on what you meant when you called Nanashi-kun a creature of magic. Are you implying that he is not human? What exactly is this magic you keep speaking of? Is it anything like chakra?"

"_He is mostly human and that is all you need to know_," Death stated in a tone that said that further discussion of that particular topic was off limits. "_The reason my master feels pain when he is separated from Uzumaki would be because of his magic. What you must understand is that my master is now a thirty-six year old man locked inside of a child's body with the magical core of a fully grown and exceptionally powerful adult mage. Ultimately, that means that his body is struggling to cope with the sheer volume of power he possesses; which is only natural, as no child was ever meant to be born with abilities equal to that of an adult. As my master's new body ages, the conflict between body and magic shall gradually fade._"

"_Under normal circumstances, no child would be bound to a Life Debt; children are meant to be protected because they normally lack the ability to protect themselves (or others) and are therefore unable to repay a Life Debt. My master's magic, however, is not capable of distinguishing between his former adult body and the child's body he now has and therefore would not have hesitated to form a Debt because, as far as his magic was concerned, my master was an adult fully capable of repaying his Debts._"

"_Furthermore, this world lacks magic of its own. In this world, the life force of all living things is made up of separate energies; physical energy, spiritual energy, and natural energy. A number of beings in this world have learned to combine their physical and spiritual energies to create the force that you call chakra. A select few have also learned how to draw upon nature's energy, which includes the energies found in all living things, in the earth itself, and in the very air you breathe, to further enhance their capabilities. Magic, on the other hand, is a life force in and of itself and it can not be broken down into separate energies._"

"_Additionally, all magic is fundamentally connected and contains a degree of sentience that grants it a measure of adaptability. That basically means that the magic of all humans constantly resonates with the magic of the earth and the magic inside of all magical creatures, beings, and plants while actively adapting to the ever changing world in order to maintain order. Unfortunately, because this world lacks magic, my master's magic is unable to resonate with the world around him; meaning from the moment he arrived, his magic will have been out of sync with nature._"

"_That conflict will have forced my master's magic to adapt in order to survive. To do so, his magic would have latched onto the first connection it could create in order to stabilize itself; which, in this case, is undoubtedly the Life Debt he owes Uzumaki. The problem with that is that his magic will have bound him to that Debt far tighter than it would have if he had remained within the world of magic into which he was born in order to obtain the stability it needs._"

"What exactly does that mean?" Tsunade demanded as she frowned in confusion.

"_It means that my master's life is tied to the connection that he formed with Uzumaki and attempts to separate them for an extended period of time or over long distances will result in that bond becoming stressed to the point of potentially snapping; something that would destroy the child my master has become. In time, once the bond has had a chance to mature and it gains a measure of flexibility, proximity will no longer be an issue; though long periods of separation will still cause him discomfort and pain. Any additional bonds that my master's magic forms would also help ease the strain on that first bond since his magic would not need to cling to that first connection so tightly._"

Naruto swallowed thickly over the realization that they had nearly killed Nanashi by forcing him to stay in Konoha when he'd left to help rescue Gaara. The adults in the room were looking rather uncomfortable over that revelation as well; they had been the ones that had been pushing Naruto to get Nanashi used to the idea of spending time away from Naruto after all. Though, in their defense, it wasn't as if any of them had been aware of the possible consequences of separating the child from the teen at the time and they had only been trying to do what they thought was best for the child to keep him safe.

"_Was there anything else you needed of me, Master?_" Death inquired when it appeared that there were no further questions.

"No. Nashi done. Narto want meet Death. Nashi call Death meet Narto."

"_Then I shall bid you farewell_," Death stated as he bowed to the child; his scythe reappearing from out of the shadows quite unexpectedly as he straightened up and held his hand out to the side.

"Before you leave, may I ask you a couple more questions?" Naruto inquired as Death stepped away from where he'd been partially looming over the teen and his ward. Despite being unable to see the face through the shadows filling the cowl that Death wore, Naruto got the distinct impression that Death was meeting his gaze as he stared at Naruto for a long moment before slowly nodding.

Naruto took a deep breath before he glanced down at the six year old in his arms as he collected his thoughts before asking, "Do you know why Nanashi doesn't protect himself with his magic? Is there something I can do to help get rid of the conflict you spoke of between his body and his magic? Will he ever be able to use chakra now that you made him part of my family? Will teaching him how to be a shinobi harm him? Like teaching him chakra control exercises to help him control his magic? And… and why did Nanashi… after Nanashi… when he failed the one man…? Why…? What is it that he…?"

"_Do not be afraid to speak of death in front of my master; he will not suffer an attack of a guilty conscience over the lives that are lost in the name of Balance nor will those deaths haunt his dreams. The only repercussion he will face for carrying out his duty is the stress that his duties will place on his body because it is too young to fully cope with the sheer volume of power he commands in the name of Balance,_" Death stated as he focused on the final incomplete questions.

"He doesn't care that those that fail his test die by his hand?" Naruto croaked in horror.

"_No, it is not a matter of caring; he cares very much and if his soul was not insulated by the gifts that the Fates gave to their chosen, then his duty would have crippled him irreparably because he cares too much. Do not forget, Uzumaki, that death is just as much a part of life as life itself and it is my master's duty to see to it that the balance between life and death is maintained._"

"Oh, I just thought… he seems so young and the thought that he didn't…"

"It is difficult to think of a child being capable of doing that which most adults find hard to do without suffering a backlash of negative emotions," Shikaku interjected as he stepped up beside Naruto and rested his hand on the blond's shoulder. "It will take time for us to understand and accept that part of Nanashi; if only because we understand so little about who he is and what it is he does. Will you answer the rest of Naruto's questions?"

"_Yes, I will answer his questions; I just felt it best to address Uzumaki's fears first since his fear will greatly impact my master due to the bond they now share. You asked why the child doesn't feel the need to protect himself with his gifts and the answer is twofold. First, while my master has little memory of his first life, the instincts he honed throughout that life have not vanished and he has a deeply ingrained lack of self preservation and an equally ingrained need to protect others. He does not believe himself worth saving._"

"_And the second reason is that he can not protect himself with the gifts that Balance gave to him unless doing so will preserve the Balance. He can use his inborn abilities to protect himself but as I told you earlier; he lost over half of those abilities and what few remain will need to be relearned. There is not much that you could do to teach him about his magic but you could teach him how to strengthen his body which in turn will ease the physical strain he is currently under due to the strain of his current body housing the magical core of an adult; a strain which is reflected in the slightly malnourished state and small stature of his current form._"

"_So, no, training him in the ways of a shinobi will not harm him. I do not know if teaching him chakra control exercises will help him control his magic but it will not harm him; they will either fail to work at all or they will allow him to control his magic. As for developing an ability to use chakra; the answer is no. He will never gain a chakra network nor will any child he sires in this lifetime; though his innate abilities can be trained to mimic chakra to the untrained eye._"

Naruto nodded absently as a small huff sounded from his ward and he glanced down to find Nanashi scowling at Death once more. Death noticed it too as the intimidating being let out a raspy chuckle that had Nanashi folding his arms over his chest and his scowl turning into a pout. The teen ruffled the boy's hair and let a small smile play about his lips when the kid twisted around to curl up against him.

"_If that is all, then I shall be going,_" Death continued as he glanced around the office once before he began falling apart, the shadows breaking down and fading from view. Just before he disappeared completely, he spoke up one last time, "_I will leave you with one last bit of advice; do not think of my master as an ordinary child that needs to be coddled and protected. He is far stronger than any of you could possibly imagine. At the same time, he is not all-powerful and his adult mind was fractured during the events that led up to him appearing in this world; leaving him vulnerable and child-like._"

The moment that the being known as Death had vanished completely, the coldness that had seeped into the office after Nanashi had summoned Death disappeared as if it had never been there; leaving the adults to wonder if Death had been there at all or if the child had placed them under some kind of genjutsu.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Baachan – grandmother or old woman  
Gaki – brat  
Jijii – old man or grandfather  
Nani – what

**Notes:**

I know the whole Master of Death scenario has been overdone to death (no pun intended) so I wanted to try and give it a unique twist; which is how I came up with the idea of Harry representing balance rather than some sort of ultimate death lord – something I know a small handful of others have also used in their stories, so it isn't exactly an original idea. Plus having Death show up also allowed me to provide some background information about Harry and his abilities; though maybe not enough to satisfy everyone.

Some of you may have also noted that Tsunade never got her original question answered (about symbol found on the man who failed Nanashi's test). That was intentionally left out; the adults all rather stunned by Death's presence and the information that Death provided on Nanashi's history & abilities drove the matter out of their minds. It will be addressed in later chapters.

**Nanashi's skills/abilities:** Yes, my child Harry is powerful; he was a full grown man and a powerful mage before he was thrown into this world as Death explained. He did not lose that power (though he did lose the ability to use that power in certain ways) and because he is so young he appears far more powerful than he really is. He is not going to become some super-powered-uber-strong ninja though.

More information on his abilities (those related to magic, to balance, and to Death's gifts) will be scattered about throughout the rest of the story as Naruto learns about them. Some of them might be overlooked or not recognized for what they are by our intrepid blond; he is still a bit clueless at times, after all.

**Danzou:** Now, before the canon sticklers grab their pitchforks and torches... Yes, I am aware that there is a Shimura Clan in canon. The reason why no one pointed that out when the three old biddies were confronting Tsunade will be explained later in the story somewhere between chapter 20 and 30, I think. In any case, there are a few other things that need to happen before you get those answers.

* * *

**AN:** _And that's a wrap folks... I know there were many, many readers chomping at the bit for some of the information in this chapter and they're all probably annoyed at me because I never really answered their questions. Like I said in the beginning though, if you can't stand being left in the dark alongside of the main character, this is probably not the story for you because I did my best not to jump about and provide all kinds of extra information via POV changes or Narrator Omnipotence; though I know I slipped a time or two on some things. _

_The next chapter will see Konoha's reaction to Nanashi's presence (or at least some people's reactions to his presence) and an all important moment of Ramen Warship at the Altar of Ramen that is Ichiraku's Ramen Stand. lol  
_

_As always, I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter! ~ Jenn_


End file.
